England to Darwin - by AIR

Today is the 90th anniversary of the arrival in Darwin of the first plane to travel from England to Australia BY AIR.

The Vickers Vimy plane piloted by the Smith brothers [Ross and Keith] arrived here about 1530hrs on December 1o 1919, effectively creating the air route between Europe and Australia.

The outcome of this feat was the creation of the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Services, or more commonly known as QANTAS.

There will be a modest remembrance this afternoon, near the cairn at Fannie Bay, where they crossed the coast to then land on the airstrip, which is now Ross Smith Avenue, in Fannie Bay.

A previous post also discusses the road travels by the pioneers who had to build airstrips further south in the NT and Queensland for the participants in the air race. Yes, it was a race, with a prize equal in value to about A$2.5 million today, offered by the Australian government.

It was a very major achievement, and rarely thought about today, especially outside Darwin. Darwin has been, and still is a major entry point for the welcome and unwelcome visitors to Australia - right to the present with many refugee boats arriving here, or heading to here [ often intercepted before getting this far], vigorous and frequent Japanese bombings in WW2, Vietnamese refugee boats, the original England - Australia telegraph cable and others.

More detail - click on the link:http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Vickers%20Vimy%20G-EAOU%20crew.htm

Some photos to come later.