TIME CAPSULE: Maude “Lores” Bonney’s record-breaking solo flight

SEPTEMBER 1932 First female pilot circumnavigates Australia

On a cold and stormy day in 1932, Maude “Lores” Bonney gripped the throttle of her Gipsy Moth biplane and held her breath as the wind buffeted her aircraft on her approach to Perth, 11 days after she’d departed Brisbane. Her open cockpit offered no protection against the frigid air, and as she later recalled in her diary, “a strong, squally wind was blowing all the time”. But there was no question of turning back. Born in South Africa but raised in Melbourne, the socialite-turned-aviatrix harboured a secret desire to become the rst woman to pilot a plane from Australia to England, and circumnavigating Australia was an important step in her preparation to achieve that goal. She was a woman of deep faith, and often said that God was her co-pilot. But it wasn’t until she touched down in Perth that she learnt how close she had come to death. A wing spar had split during a rough landing at some point during her crossing, and it was a miracle the whole wing hadn’t collapsed in the tough ying conditions. Repairs were hastily made and soon the pioneering pilot was back in the air, ying home towards Brisbane, where she arrived on September 27 to the cheers of a waiting crowd. That “rst taste of air was the answer to my dreams,” Maude wrote of the moment she was introduced to ying on a joyride with her husband’s cousin, Bert Hinkler. Bert had just own from Australia to England in record time, when he offered to take Maude ying, and from the moment they launched towards the sky, she knew she would one day do the same. Now that she had circumnavigated Australia, Maude was one step closer to achieving her ultimate goal.

The following year, she became the rst woman to y solo from Australia to the UK. AWW