First Regular Airmail

Overview

French aviator Maurice Guillaux (1883–1917) made the first airmail flight in Australia, in 1914, in his Bleriot XI monoplane. The Melbourne to Sydney flight encompassed six stops and carried a cargo of souvenir postcards, official letters and a small number of parcels.

While Guillaux’s flight demonstrated the viability of airmail, it was essentially an exhibition flight rather than the beginning of the domestic airmail service in Australia. That milestone occurred seven years later, following the passing of the Air Navigation Act 1920 (which came into force in March 1921) and the subsequent call for tenders to operate a subsidised airmail and passenger service in the north-west of Western Australia. At the time, mail delivery in that part of the country was a monthly service that took around two weeks by steamship.

The tender was won by businessman and aviator Norman Brearley (1890–1989), who had served as a pilot during World War I. On winning the tender he established Western Australian Airways (WAA; renamed West Australia Airways in 1928), acquiring six Bristol Tourers for the weekly service between Geraldton and Derby, which took around three days, with stops at Carnarvon, Onslow, Roebourne, Port Headland and Broome. Qantas won second airmail contract a year later, in November 1922, which flew the inland Queensland route.

Sadly, 130 kilometres out of Geraldton on the service’s inaugural flight, on 5 December 1921, one of the Bristol Tourers crash-landed, killing the pilot and mechanic. This prompted the suspension of the service until much-needed work was carried out to improve the number and safety of landing grounds. A minor air service to Port Hedland was established on 22 February 1922 and the full service to Derby restarted on 6 April.