Pre-war Services for Civil Aviation (continued)

Commonwealth Regulations for Air Navigation came into force on 28 June 1921 and the Commonwealth Government also acquired Nigel Love's bullock paddock aerodrome at Mascot in October of that year.

In the 1920s there were some outstanding individuals obsessed with the development of aviation in Australia. One was Major Norman Brearley DSO MC AFC who, after his return from a brilliant wartime career as a pilot and flying instructor, had established a flying taxi service with two Avro 504K biplanes. His passengers included the WA State Governor and the Mayor of Perth.

Others were Hudson Fysh and 'Ginty' McGinness. McGinness was a crack pilot with the Australian Flying Corps in Palestine in World War I when he suggested to Trooper Hudson Fysh of the First Light Horse Brigade that he transfer to the Flying Corps as an observer and gunner. They had ambitions to compete for the 10 000 pound prize offered by Prime Minister Billy Hughes, but were unable to find backers to finance an aeroplane for them.

Determined to be involved in the air race, they landed the job of surveying landing strips in northern Australia, travelling from Cloncurry to Darwin in the wonderful T model Ford. This remarkable vehicle was a primitive automobile designed and built by American Henry Ford who pioneered the assembly line technique of manufacture.

Driving back from Darwin, Hudson Fysh and McGinness encountered a Queensland grazier, Fergus McMaster, whose car had become bogged in the Cloncurry River. After using the T model Ford to pull his car from the river, they persuaded him that the solution for travel in northern Australia was to fly, and he agreed to finance a local flying service. Thus the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (Qantas) was born.

Bureau of Meteorology