gebov

Crowds in Brisbane to see Bert Hinkler's Avro Avian, 1928

from State Library of Queensland

• geoffd said:

  Dad ("Harry" Drew) remembers Shorncliffe State School pupils being given a half-day holiday so that they could disperse to local vantage points to watch Bert Hinkler fly in towards Eagle Farm. The place he and his younger brother stood to watch was a vacant block on the corner of Raymond Street and Wharf Street, Shorncliffe. (The spot is now occupied by that younger brother's swimming pool.) Dad would have been going on 7 years of age and in Grade 2 at the time.

• State Library of Queensland said:

  What a treat for the school students. Thanks for adding your story, Geoff.

• geoffd said:

  I wonder what it would take to deserve another half-day holiday, these days? Dad's recollection (81 years on, and a bit hazy) is that the plane flew almost directly overhead, so it would seem that Hinkler was following the coast and would have come in fairly low over Brighton, Sandgate, Shorncliffe, Nudgee Beach and Cribb Island before landing.