This Day in History: 1919-11-22

Captain Henry Wrigley and Sergeant Arthur William Murphy departed from Nyngan at about 9:30am and flew to Bourke on Friday 22 November 1919 on the fifth 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, their north-westerly route of approximately 200km took them over Girilambone, Coolabah, Byerock and Mooculta. They landed at Bourke just before 11:00am and landed opposite the railway station where they were greeted by Mayor Alderman H.K. Bloxham. Source: Tom Lockley, Wrigley and Murphy: Australia’s First Transcontinental Flight; AHSA (NSW) Inc., 2009.