5 DECEMBER 1921 - 5 DECEMBER 2021 The Royal Aero Club of Western Australia is proud to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the first scheduled air service in Australia by Western Australia Airways, founded by Sir Norman Brearley (inaugural Club President, 1929).
T
ransport and communication were major challenges lengess iin n th thee de ddevelopment velopm p ent of Australia in the early 20th century. The commencement of a scheduled airline service ce in i 1921 transformed the social and economic fabric of regional townss in the north of Western Australia and later Australia. To celebrate te the 100th anniversary of the first scheduled air service in Australia, launched on the 5th December 1921, it was decided ded to re-enact the first flight. This event has been organised by the Royal Aero Club of Western Australia and various aviation enthusiasts. The Commemoration Flight of 2021 honours the achievements of a great Western Australian, Sir Norman Brearley, and all early aviators and support crew. It also honours those intrepid passengers who flew with Western Australian Airways (WAA) in its formative years, along with the regional towns and stations who assisted and involved themselves with this aviation pioneer.
Centenary of the First Scheduled Air Service in Australia
Sir Norman Brearley, founder of WAA, was born in Geelong,
Victoria in 1890. In 1906 he moved with his family to Western Australia. At this time, the population of the State was only some 282,000 persons (by 1921 this had increased to approximately 334,000). In 1911, Brearley saw his first aircraft and in April 1915, after a 5-year apprenticeship as an engineer, he worked his passage to the United Kingdom (as a Seventh Engineer) and enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps. However, in October 1916, Brearley was badly wounded in France and returned to WA to convalesce. On recovery, Brearley returned to England and became a flying instructor. By the end of the Great War, Brearley was the Commander of the Flying Instructors' School, as a Major. Not only was he a decorated World War One fighter pilot, but he also received the Military Cross, Distinguished Service Order and the Air Force Cross. Brearley returned to Australia in 1919, with a combination of considerable aviation skills and extensive flying experience, plus two recently-purchased Avro 504Js, a spare engine and other spare parts. World War One had created great interest in aviation in Australia,
with the local press taking a keen interest in many aspects, including new developments and record attempts. Brearley's return created considerable interest, giving him many opportunities to promote his ideas for the future of civil aviation in Australia. Brearley's first public flying demonstration (there being no local airfields at the time) took place in Perth at the Western Australia Cricket Association Oval (WACA) on 2nd August 1919, using one of his Avro 504Js. It was followed by aerobatics and joy-rides. A 10-minute ride cost 5 pounds, which at the time was more than the then average weekly wage. Following this, charter and joy flights across WA’s South West provided cash, experience and public exposure, whilst keeping the two aircraft near to Brearley's base, on the shores of the Swan River (Langley Park), in Perth. Brearley took off from improvised airfields such as Belmont Park, Gloucester Park and the WACA. Langley Park was Perth’s first official airstrip and the company stayed there from 1919-1924. Brearley started with the two Avros and then built the six Bristol Tourers in a hangar on private land nearby. The six Bristol Tourers, had been crated in England before being sent to Western Australia.
The first hangar on the river foreshore in Perth, and three of the Bristol aeroplanes after the first test flights in November 1921.
Group Captain Norman Brearley DSO MC AFC, Commanding Officer, No. 4 Service Flying Training School, Geraldton, c1943.
The Bristols took off from Langley Park for the next three years. Brearley was the recipient of the first commercial pilots licence issued by the Federal Government. On 7th May 1921 the Federal Government called for tenders for an airmail service linking Geraldton and Derby. Brearley was the successful tenderer and the Government agreed to pay a subsidy of 25,000 pounds per year. Brearley immediately formed an airline company called Western Australia Airways Ltd (WAA) which was shortened to West AA. The route was to be flown weekly from Geraldton to Carnarvon, Onslow, Roebourne, Port Hedland, Broome, and Derby - a round trip of 3,800km.
5 DECEMBER 1921 - 5 DECEMBER 2021
Taken on 4 December 1921, when the three Bristol Tourers (G-AUDG, G-AUDI & G-AUDK) flew from Perth's unofficial "airport" (at Langley Park, Perth) to Geraldton, in preparation for the first airline service the next day between Geraldton and Derby. Left to right in photo: Charles Kingsford Smith, Bob Fawcett, Norman Brearley, Len Taplin and Val Abbott (later to be the Attorney General).
Brearley advertised for pilots and tested applicants at Point
Cook in Victoria. Successful pilots comprised those with Word War One experience and included Robert (Bob) Fawcett, Val Abbott, Charles Kingsford Smith, Arthur Blake and Len Taplin. There were many challenges in establishing the airline. In Brearley’s words, “You couldn’t get a telephone message for over a distance of 100 miles, let alone longer than that. All the messages along the 1200 miles route from Geraldton to Derby were sent by dot and dash morse code over a single wire. We used to carry portable telephones that we could tap in by climbing a pole, putting a wire over the single line and earthing the other wire to the metal pole and ring through to the nearest post office. In our many years of service only on two occasions did we have to do this”. Fuel supplies were delivered in a 44-gallon drum by a steamer calling in once a month to the coastal ports.
Murchison House Cemetery, with the service overseen by the Station Manager.
On 5th December 1921, Len Taplin took off first from Geraldton in G-AUDG, followed by Bob Fawcett, with his passenger 'Flying Mechanic' Edward Broad, in G-AUDI. Soon afterwards Brearley followed, with passengers M.P. Durack MLA and Geoff Jacoby, in G-AUDJ. They flew in line, some 100m apart. About 130km north of Geraldton, Len Taplin made an emergency landing on the Murchison House Station, after his engine began misfiring. Bob Fawcett, in G-AUDI, reduced height and circled the area, to check on Taplin and G-AUDG.
He was very critical of the condition of airfields on the route. On many occasions the pilots would simply drop the mail from the air, as close as they could to the post office as the airstrips were too soft to land on.
Tragically, the plane stalled then crashed, killing both occupants on impact. Brearley, not being able to see Fawcett and also wanting to check on Taplin's situation, landed G-AUDJ some 3km away. Soon, two Aboriginal station hands arrived on horseback and advised that one aircraft had crashed, killing both people on board. Australia's first scheduled airline service had ended in disaster. Fawcett and Broad were buried in the
Subject to severe public criticism, the Acting Minister for Defence admitted that the expenditure on the landing grounds had been just 200 pounds at Geraldton, 300 pounds at Port Hedland (both of which were later abandoned, in favour of sites selected by WAA), 355 pounds at Carnarvon, 190 pounds at Derby, 35 pounds at Wallal (between Port Hedland and Broome) and just 18 pounds, 15 shillings at Roebourne.
The two remaining aircraft were flown back to Perth the following day. Brearley suspended all operations until February 1922, until he was satisfied that the standard of landing-grounds, as provided by the Government was adequate.
Centenary of the First Scheduled Air Service in Australia n 21 February 1922, O WAA recommenced weekly
services on the Geraldton-Port Hedland section of its route, after becoming satisfied that the landing facilities, including emergency landing grounds, were now safe. This work had been done after an extensive survey done by WAA pilots Peter Hansen and Charles Kingsford Smith, who found major problems with many of the sites. On 6th April 1922 WAA recommenced weekly services over its complete GeraldtonDerby route. This route took some 2 ½ days, departing Geraldton on Friday afternoons (after the train from Perth arrived with the mail) and arriving Derby at 8am Monday mornings, departing 9am to arrive back in Geraldton late on a Wednesday. With the North-West route established, Brearley extended the service south in 1924 to Perth. Three years later he set up the Perth Flying School at Maylands Aerodrome and in 1928, WAA won the contract to carry mail between Perth and Adelaide. On this route, opened in May/June 1929, the airline used De Havilland 66 Hercules, which carried fourteen passengers, and Vickers Viastras. A hot luncheon would be provided at Ceduna, dinner at the airline-owned hostel at Forrest and catering at Kalgoorlie. To ensure accurate navigation over the long distance, often flown at night, Brearley installed the American-designed Sperry rotating beacon system along the flight path. In 1934 WAA lost the north-west airmail contract to MacRobertson-Miller Aviation Co. Ltd.
Prior to taking off on 4 December 1921, from Perth to Geraldton on the opening of the first mail service. Mechanic E Broad, Charles Kingford Smith, Geoff Jacoby, Peter Hansen, Harold Boas, Norman Brearly, M.P. Durack, mechanic J Trestrail, pilot Val Abbott, pilot Bob Fawcett and mechanic Abrahams.
This decision left WAA with only the now unsubsidised Perth–Adelaide route. In April 1936, Adelaide Airways Ltd offered to purchase West Australian Airways and on 12th June the purchase was finalised for 25,000 pounds. On 1st July, Adelaide Airways and West Australian Airways became part of the new Australian National Airways. With the outbreak of World War Two, Brearley was appointed temporary flight lieutenant,
THE MAIL It took time for the volume of air mail to build. By the end of 1923 around 10,000 letters per month were being carried. By December 1924 an increase to 15,000 was made and during the last half of 1925, the average was over 20,000 surcharged letters monthly. Correspondence from all parts of the world was carried regularly on the airmail up the coast of Western Australia and also interstate when the Adelaide route came into play.
Royal Australian Air Force. Posted to various training schools as commanding officer, he rose to acting group captain in January 1942 and commanded No.4 Service Flying Training School, Geraldton, from October and RAAF Station, Tocumwal, New South Wales, from March 1944. Appointed a CBE in 1965 and knighted in 1971, he was awarded the Oswald Watt gold medal in 1974. Brearley was the founding president of the (Royal) Aero Club of Western Australia. Hudson Fysh, a much celebrated pioneer of aviation in Australia and one of the founders of QANTAS, recognised the contribution by Norman Brearley in starting the commercial aviation industry in Australia in his book, QANTAS Rising. He acknowledged the depth of experience gained by Norman in the Great War, combined with his thirst for engineering solutions to many of the problems facing the development of aircraft at the time. He sought a great deal of advice from Norman in trying to get QANTAS off the ground as a competent airline.