Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture 11

From Aero Clubs to Aviation Companies: the experiences of Thomas Macleod and his contemporaries 1910 -1919

Authors

High, J.

Citation

High, J. 2020. From Aero Clubs to Aviation Companies: the experiences of Thomas Macleod and his contemporaries 1910–1919. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture 11: 57–74. https://doi.org/10.17082/j.2205-3239.11.1.2020.2020-05

Date published

June 2020

DOI

https://doi.org/10.17082/j.2205-3239.11.1.2020.2020-05

Keywords

Aviation, Thomas Macleod, Queensland Museum

Abstract

Rapid developments undertaken by a number of ambitious and adventurous Queenslanders are summarised by Major Thomas Macleod in his article ‘Flying in Queensland: Early Difficulties’, a typed manuscript in Queensland Museum’s Thomas Macleod Queensland Aviation Collection. Writing on 7 September 1919, Macleod reflected on his and others’ initial experiments with aircraft in Queensland, noting that ‘flying at the present day has been so far advanced by the experience gained during the war’. Macleod’s article, along with other photographs and documents housed in the archive named in his honour, provide a significant overview of the development of aviation in Queensland. This paper presents a summary of some of the aviators, events and connections mentioned by Macleod and represented in the collection from 1910–1919. Further investigation will offer a summary of individuals and activities during the following decades.