Return to Broken Hill

The history of Broken Hill is marked with bitter and protracted strikes, particularly the “Great Strike” of 1919 which lasted 18 months and led to the 35-hour week for miners and improved health and safety conditions.

The “Big Strike” was Broken Hill’s greatest industrial battle. It lasted from May 1919 until November 1920 and involved thousands of mine workers and their families who struggled to survive, mainly on rations of potatoes, onions and jam.

The women of Broken Hill played a pivotal role in the strikes which shaped the unique industrial history of the city, offering physical and moral support to their mining fathers, husbands, brothers and sons.

Not well known is the role played during this strike by Sir Sidney Kidman, later to become Australia's largest rural property owner. At the time of the strike Kidman had a butcher shop in the Main Street of Broken Hill which served as an outlet for his then growing cattle empire. As the strike progressed he felt for the miner's families and would provide fresh meat at no charge to the wives so they might feed their children. The understanding was never abused and when the strike finally finished and the miner's returned to work, Kidman's butchery was rewarded with all the town's trade. Today the butchery still occupies the same premises in the Kidman Building down the end of Broken Hill's Main Street.

Miners are immortalised in much of Broken Hill

This is the third visit by the Bazflyers in ZK-BAZ to Broken Hill and hurrah for an interesting new find; Bells Milk Bar. Step back to the '60s for delicious coffee and a pretty mean double malt. Rumour has it that the owner 'Pearly Bell' would stand out in the street until it was devoid of a single soul before closing for the night.

Mary O'Brian

Half way between Lismore and Broken Hill is the small settlement of Walgett and a the Bazflyers chosen place to refuel and stretch the legs. It's a typical Australian outback town in the middle of nowhere; with houses clad in faded paint over weathered sunburnt timbers. A happy place ravaged by time, sun, wind and rain.

The great Australian outback has forever been a tough land. A place where travel often involves many tedious hours on hot dusty red roads. It's not surprising then that right from the outset outback people embraced aviation and one of those people was Mary Philomena O`Brien

Mary was born in Walgett in 1940 where she grew up on the family property at "Coolabong" on the Barwon River. After finishing school she gained her private pilot Licence at the Walgett Aero Club where she was also the first female club member. Then followed her Commercial Pilot Licence and instructors rating. 

Her first employment as a pilot was in Sydney in 1969. A few years later she was in Singapore training pilots for Singapore Airlines. Mary from the outback was a true  aviation pioneer. She was the first woman in Australia to Captain a Lear Jet aircraft. The first woman Examiner of Airmen with the Civil Aviation Authority and later as Flight Operations Manager at Bankstown airport she was the first woman appointed to an aviation operational management position.

Mary passed away in her '60s. She had flown over outback Australia, the deserts of Iran and Africa, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, the Rocky mountains, and the jungles of Guatemala. She had piloted more than thirty different types of aircraft from the low speed fabric variety to high speed jets. 

Her legacy lives on through her students, many of whom are still active in aviation. Meanwhile, back in her small home town of Walgett the local community has named the little airport terminal in memory of their by own Mary O'Brian.

Mary O'Brien airport terminal, Walgett NSW

Australian outback looking unusually green after a solid drenching of rain

Another Trans-Tasman Crossing

On each occasion the Bazflyers have flown their Piper Comanche ZK-BAZ beyond New Zealand shores Norfolk Island has been the first place of landing. The island, located some 800 km north west of New Zealand, is a convenient refuelling point and always a pleasant overnight stop.

The flight from Kerikeri to Norfolk Island normally involves the Bazflyers flying BAZ for a little more than 3 hours. However, due to very strong headwinds for the entire flight up to Norfolk Island, at times indicating 50 knots, the flight on this occassion took 4 hours 20 minutes. Along the way a frontal system imbedded with all sorts of nasty clouds lined the western edge of our flight path.

Another pleasant island stop-over at the Paradise Hotel before tackling the 1550 km leg direct to Gold Coast airport. Anticipated light winds avoided us on this sector as well and instead moderately strong head-winds along the entire route kept the Bazflyers in the office for almost six hours before legs could be stretched on Australian ground. 

On the way north to YSNF a 10,000 ft view from the front office 

From 1st July Australia assumes authority over Norfolk Island. Many 'Islanders are not happy.

BAZ in good company on the Platinum Aviation ramp at YBCG

Weather Watch

Weather forecasting plays a key role in the safety of aviation. Just like so many other things in this age, weather is a global commodity increasingly processed and delivered by super-smart computer systems. Gone are the days when a person recorded observations which were then manually transcribed onto a large map and interpreted with hand-drawn isobars. I well remember Harry the chief meteorologist at Wigram during my Air Force pilot training days. Harry's morning weather briefings were delivered with a notion of theatrical drama.Immaculately dressed, he would deliver his weather forecast for the day with meticulously drawn isobar charts lining the wall behind him. Never mind that his forecast would often be completely in contrast with the day clearly visible out of the briefing room window, the artwork on display was worthy of an award. 

The topic of weather forecasts is an appropriate beginning to another series of blogs as the   Bazflyers again set out on a flying safari in their Piper Comanche ZK-BAZ. This time it's a return to Australia beginning with two planned hops across the Tasman Sea. The first flight being from Kerikeri in the north of New Zealand 488 NM north to Norfolk Island. A night on the island then 770 NM east to enter Australia at Gold Coast airport. Weather watching and waiting for the window of opportunity has been a common theme for every Tasman crossing. At this time of the year weather patterns are usually active and fast moving. Fortunately, today's computer generated forecasts are many times more reliable than those of old. 

The Australian safari begins at Broken Hill

Computer generated weather forecast

On the way to Kerikeri a section of the flight when we were not in cloud