This Day in History: 1892-12-04

Sir Ross Macpherson Smith (1892-1922), airman, was born on 4 December 1892 at Semaphore, Adelaide, second son of Scottish-born Andrew Bell Smith, station manager, and his wife Jessie, née Macpherson, born in Western Australia. In 1897 Andrew Smith became the manager of the Mutooroo Pastoral Co. and Mutooroo station, a property of some 3000 sq. miles (7700 km²). Both Ross and his brother Keith were educated at Queen’s School, Adelaide (as boarders), and for two years at Warriston School, Moffat, Scotland, their father’s birthplace. Ross and his brother Keith, along with Walter Shiers and James Bennett made aviation history by completing the first flight from England to Australia in 1919. Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography