Aviation in Australia
Aviation in Australia traces the history of flight from its infancy through to the twentieth century. The European dreamers and experimenters of the 1780s influenced Australia's first balloonists: Dean, Gale and L'Estrange. All had varying degrees of success in getting airborne.
Detail from Charles Ulm flying aircraft VH-UOL over Mascot, Sydney, 1930
Escapologist Houdini made Australia's first controlled flight in 1910. Biplanes, Boxkites and Hydro-planes were predominant in this era and airmail, first carried by Maurice Guillaux, became a regular service between the main cities of Australia.
With time and improved flying machines, aviators became more ambitious. Flight durations and distances grew until Ross and Keith Smith became the first to fly between England and Australia in 1919.
Travel through this exciting journey of aviation and learn of the successes and disasters of an evolving mode of transport.
