1924 – 2024

The first circumnavigation of Australia by aeroplane was achieved in 1924, making 2024 the 100th anniversary. That this was not undertaken until 5 years after the first (1919) and many subsequent flights from England to Australia, is testament to the difficulty in undertaking this endeavour. Even today, it is a project of logistics, flight planning and time management – but in 1924 it was a gargantuan mission, involving military forces, planning, grit and some luck.

The flight was conducted under the auspices of the new Royal Australian Airforce, flying a Fairey Mk III D Seaplane, and piloted by Wing Commander Goble and Flight Lieutenant McIntyre, in a primitive fragile aircraft through inhospitable terrain, was an incredible achievement.

In April and May of 2024 Michael Smith (AG Adventurer of the Year 2016) will retrace this historic journey following the original anti-clockwise route in the modern seaplane “Southern Sun.” The towns and dates will be followed as closely as possible, to commemorate the centenary of this great achievement, and look at how aviation and the towns visited have changed over the last 100 years. At the same time another group of seaplanes and their pilots led by David Geers in his Searey “Phoenix” will circumnavigate Australia clockwise in an adventure to celebrate the year of the anniversary.