The Landsborough Highway enters the locality from the south-east (Ilfracombe), passes through the town and then exits to the north-west (Corfield).

Other streets honour Hudson Fysh, an Australian aviation pioneer, and Sir James Walker, a farmer and long-serving mayor of the former Longreach Shire Council.

The Iningai language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Longreach Region, particularly the towns of Longreach, Barcaldine, Muttaburra and Aramac as well as the properties of Bowen Downs and catchments of Cornish Creek and Alice River.

[8] In 1862, the enormous Bowen Downs cattle station was established across the region by William Landsborough, Nathaniel Buchanan and Edward Cornish, with the financial backing of Robert Morehead and Matthew Young of the Scottish Australian Investment Company.

In 1872, Bowen Downs was divided into two huge properties, the section along the Thomson River being named Mount Cornish, managed by Edward R. Edkins.

An outstation of this Mount Cornish cattle station was called Longreach, because it was situated on a long reach of the Thomson River.

[11] The Central Western railway line reached the town on 15 February 1892,[12] causing the population to grow.

[18][19][20] In 1970, Queen Elizabeth II, The Duke of Edinburgh and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne toured Australia including Queensland.

The Queensland tour began on Sunday 12 April when the royal yacht Britannia entered Moreton Bay at Caloundra, sailing into Newstead Wharf.

After several days of engagements in the city of Brisbane, Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh commenced their regional tour flying to Longreach on Wednesday 15 April.

During the visit they viewed an exhibition of Qantas memorabilia, including a replica of the company’s first aircraft, the AVRO 504K of 1921.

The occasion marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of The Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, Limited (Qantas).

[22][23] In early April 2010, Longreach experienced a significant locust plague described by local residents as the worst in three decades.

However, many in the industry, including Erik Madsen, founder of the Australian Opal Centre, remain sceptical.

[1] Longreach has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: 4.9% of the population works in beef cattle farming compared to 0.7 per cent nationally.

As part of nationwide restructuring, Target Country closed its store on Eagle Street in April 2021.

[37] The Longreach branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association has its rooms in Duck Street.

Star Cinema Longreach operated for 33 years before closing due to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in popularity of streaming services.

Longreach is the home of the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, which was officially opened in 1988 by Queen Elizabeth II.

In recognition of the town's place in company history, as well as a play on the airliner's extended range, all of Qantas's Boeing 747-400s had "Longreach" printed on both sides of the first jetway entry/exit doors.

Adjacent to the college is the Longreach School of Distance Education, which provides lessons to remote students, formerly by HF radio but now using telephone lines.