Burt Hinkler and Croydon Airport
The 75th anniversary of the first solo flight made from Britain to Australia, by Queensland-born aviator "Bert" Kinkier, was marked by the visit of another Queenslander, the Australian Deputy High Commissioner, to Airport House, Croydon.
Deputy High Commissioner Bill Tweddel presented the Croydon Airport Society with a framed facsimile of the Camooweal Note, on 22nd February - the exact date on which Hinkler touched down in Darwin. The aviator wrote the note after he had arrived in Australia, but before he could complete his journey by continuing on to his home town of Bundaberg.
Hinkler set off from Croydon Airport on his landmark flight on 7th February 1928. He landed in Darwin on 22nd February, having flown his two-seat Avro 581E Avian biplane 11,250 miles in 15 and a half days.
Hinkler, who was born in Bundaberg in Queensland, had planned to fly on to his home town and land in the street outside his mother's house. However, he got caught up in a heat wave and tropical storm as he made his way towards home. He had to land and take drinking water from boreholes. His health was depleted by the strenuous flight and he fell ill as a result of drinking the water. He found an aboriginal stockman and asked him to help by taking a hand-written note to a nearby settlement to explain his predicament.
It reassured the people of Camooweal that he was safe and on his way. The Croydon Airport Society will be giving the framed facsimile pride of place in the award winning Visitors' Centre, at Airport House, located in the control tower of the original terminus building.
Mr Tweddel said he had, himself, been christened in Bundaberg. He was shown around the Visitors' Centre by members of the society and he expressed his approval at the work done to conserve the history of the world's first international airport:
"This is a fantastic resource," he said. "To house a museum in the place where things actually happened makes it worth so much more."
The Croydon Airport Visitor Centre has already welcomed around 7,000 visitors since it opened in September 2000. Visitors come from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Europe. It is open on the first Sunday in each month, from 11am to 4pm, and is manned by volunteers from the Croydon Airport Society.