The Crocodile Dundee pub in McKinley

McKinlay
Home of the famous Crocodile Dundee pub.
McKinlay's great claim to fame is that the local pub, now known as the Walkabout Creek Hotel, was featured in the original Crocodile Dundee movie as Dundee's regular drinking spot. Known originally as the Federal McKinlay Hotel it was sold for $290 000 after the movie had been made and the current owners, while maintaining the rough and tumble feel of the original, are committed to promoting it as the town's one tourist attraction. It is a subtle combination of the outback and the sophisticated.

Located 104 km south east of Cloncurry, McKinlay was named after the McKinlay River which was discovered and named by the explorer John McKinlay. McKinlay had arrived in New South Wales in 1836 and by 1861 had become such an adept bushman that he was chosen to lead the South Australian Burke Relief Expedition to search for the missing Burke and Wills.

There was no immediate rush to the area. Captain James Henry, the founder of Cloncurry, passed through the area in 1866 as did George McGillivray the following year. Gold was discovered on the McKinlay- Cloncurry road in 1872. In 1883 a letter receiving office was opened in the small settlement.

It wasn't until 1888 that allotments of land in McKinlay were sold and seventeen people bought half-acre blocks. The town grew as a service centre for the surrounding pastoralists but it was never going to become a major centre. Even today, with the interest generated by Crocodile Dundee, it is really nothing more than a couple of stores, a few houses and a pub. Like so much of western Queensland any future that it might have had was destroyed with the arrival of motor vehicles and farm mechanisation.

Anyone wanting to know more about the town should consult the McKinlay Centenary 1888-1988 which is available from the Walkabout Creek Hotel.

Things to see:  

The Walkabout Creek Hotel
When the building originally known as the Federal McKinlay Hotel featured in the first Crocodile Dundee movie it was sold for $290 000. While maintaining the rough and tumble feel of the original, the new owners are committed to promoting it as the town's one tourist attraction. It is a subtle combination of the outback and the sophisticated.

	Hotels
	Walkabout Creek Hotel Middleton St McKinlay QLD 4823 Telephone: (07) 4746 8424