This Day in History: 1919-12-08

Captain Henry Wrigley and Sergeant Arthur William Murphy departed from Avon Downs Station, Northern Territory and flew to Alexandria Station on Monday 8 December 1919 on the eleventh leg of an aerial survey of a suitable route from Melbourne to Darwin. They were planning to arrive in Darwin before Ross and Keith Smith, Walter Sheirs and James Bennett who were flying from London in the Vickers Vimy G-EAOU. Flying in the single-engined Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2e B6183, Wrigley and Murphy flew in a northerly direction for approximately 156km. Source: Tom Lockley, Wrigley and Murphy: Australia’s First Transcontinental Flight; AHSA (NSW) Inc., 2009.