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Flying into history

Did you know that humans have only been able to fly in planes for about 100 years?

Student activities

Task no. 1

Mix 'n' match

Have you ever travelled in a plane to another city or country? In the old days it used to be very dangerous and difficult to fly in a plane. Today it is a safe and common form of transport. Look carefully at the sources to discover how great inventors and brave pilots changed the way we travel today.

Work in pairs to place the images of aircraft into the correct chronological sequence on the timeline.

Look carefully at these sources to discover how great inventors and brave pilots changed the way we travel today.

What can we learn about changes to air travel by looking at old photos?

TIMELINE:

 

____1870_______1890______1910______1930_______1951______2010______

 

Qantas A380 Airbus, 2010, 2010
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Lawrence Hargrave and his kites at Stanwell Park, 1890, 18
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Joyceln Howath and Nancy Bird, 1930s,
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Captain PG Taylor, pioneer airman, and Catalina plane at Rathmines air base, preparing for survey flight to South America, 20/7/1950
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Houdini airborne in his Voisin at Diggers Rest, March 1910, 1910
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Balloon ascent by Mr. Gale in the Domain, Sydney, 1870, 20 January 1870
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Task no. 2

How will people travel in the future?

This drawing was made over 100 years ago in 1891.

It shows what someone imagined Sydney would look like today.

The plane that the artist has drawn looks very different to modern planes.

If you look at the scenery under the plane you will also see that there are very few tall buildings. Notice the bridge in the background.

It is the artist’s idea of what a bridge across Sydney Harbour might look like.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was not built until almost 40 years after this drawing was made.

  1. How different is this bridge to the Sydney Harbour Bridge we know today?
  2. Use your imagination to draw a picture of how you think people will travel around in the future. Write word labels to help describe your ideas.
An ideal scene, Sydney a century hence. The Queensland night express, 1891, 4 July 1891
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