DH60 Moth – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB14/02/202516/02/2025

DH60 Moth Centenary Celebration Lunch (February 22nd at RVAC)

DH60 First Flight Centenary - Celebration Lunch - Moorabbin Airport - Saturday 22nd February 2025 Join fellow members of the Melbourne aviation community (AHSA,...

1919 Captain Henry Wrigley and Sergeant Arthur William Murphy departed from Winton, Queensland and flew to Cloncurry on Sunday 30 November 1919 on the tenth leg of an aerial survey of a suitable route from Melbourne to Darwin. Flying in the single-engined Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2e B6183, they flew in a north-westerly direction for approximately 230km, landing at Cloncurry at 10:45am. The Brisbane Courier described the events: "The aviators were greeted with a cheer, the plane being the first to arrive at Cloncurry. An immense crowd was present to witness the descent. The journey from Winton to Cloncurry, a distance of 240 miles, occupied 2½ hours. Until Kynuna was reached, heavy head winds prevailed, but after that it was plain sailing to Cloncurry. Captain Wrigley is well pleased with the journey right through. He only experienced slight engine trouble at Charleville, this causing delay He expects to remain at Cloncurry for five days, and then, if all arrangements are made will start for Darwin, via Avon Downs, Anthony's Lagoon, and the Katherine River. The machine is at present being overhauled at a garage here. Miss Hensley received a letter from Captain Wrigley, the first to be sent by aeroplane to Cloncurry tonight. Captain Wrigley and Lieutenant Murphy were entertained by the citizens last night and were presented with a gold medal as a memento of the occasion, Captain Wrigley said that in the near future he expected to see Cloncurry one of the principal aeroplane bases in Queensland with two or more hangars." Source: Tom Lockley, Wrigley and Murphy: Australia’s First Transcontinental Flight; AHSA (NSW) Inc., 2009.

1973 On 30 November 1973 the Department of Civil Aviation was amalgamated with the Department of Shipping and Transport to become the Department of Transport. The new organisation was responsible for all forms of transport, along the lines adopted in Canada. Aviation functions previously handled by DCA became the responsibility of the Air Transport Group in the DoT but this distinction gradually disappeared in an attempt to present an image of a multi-discipline organisation. Source: Boughton and Parnell, Flypast, A Record of Australian Aviation, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988, p.350