Honour for air pioneer
A GEELONG war veteran helped establish Australia’s first national air service in 1921 and became a pioneer of Australia’s civil aviation industry.
Sir Norman Brearley will be recognised in WA next week to mark the 100th anniversary of Australia’s first scheduled air service.
The service was commissioned and funded in December 1921, by the federal government to ensure mail could be delivered and passengers could travel on a weekly service from Geraldton to Derby in WA.
The tender was won by Sir Norman, then a young World War I pilot, who assembled five other pilots, including Charles Kingsford Smith, to launch the 1900km service.
Sir Norman was born in 1890 and was one of four children raised and educated in Geelong before the family moved to WA in 1909.
When World War I broke out in 1914, he travelled to the UK to join the British Army as a member of the Royal Flying Corps division. He was shot down and wounded while deployed across Europe and returned to Australia.
Following his recovery, Sir Norman pursued his interest in flying by establishing West Australian Airways in 1921.
He imported Bristol Tourers from England which were used in Australia’s first official scheduled air service on December 5, 1921, almost a year before Qantas took to the air in November 1922.
Sir Hudson Fysh, founder of Qantas, was reportedly impressed by Sir Norman’s successful earlier endeavour and said at the time that undertaking was superior to his.
Commemorating committee member Geoffrey Court met Sir Norman when he was in his 90s.
“Norman Brearley’s primary and secondary education in Geelong clearly put him on a good path to be a leading engineer and to follow his dream to be a pilot,” Mr Court said.
“It all came together to make him the perfect person to set up Australia’s first airline with high standards which have set the pace over the following 100 years.”
To mark the centenary, a re-enactment of the service will leave Geraldton on September 15 with a squadron of
Royal Aero Club of WA light aircraft assembling there before making the mail-carrying journey north to Derby.
As part of the celebrations in Perth, a sculpture of Sir Norman Brearley will be unveiled at Perth International Airport.