First Flight of an Australian Made AeroplanePrint Page

The monument commemorates the first flight of an aeroplane built and flown by an Australian in 1910. 

John Robertson Duigan, with the collaboration of his brother, Reginald C. Duigan of Spring Plains, built and flew the first Australian made aeroplane to achieve controlled flight in Australia.

In July 1910, John Duigan flew the aeroplane at James Cullen`s property `Spring Plains` at Mia Mia, taking off under its own power and flying 7 metres. Within two months, this had been extended to 90 metres, and soon thereafter to 180 metres at an altitude of 3.5 metres. By the end of the year, Duigan had made a flight of 1 kilometre at an altitude of 30 metres.

This is acknowledged as the first powered, controlled flight of an all Australian designed and built aeroplane and occurred less than seven years after the Wright Brothers` `Flyer` lifted off at Kittyhawk, North Carolina. In the five countries where powered flights were achieved, considerable technical resources were available making Duigan`s effort all the more remarkable because he accomplished the flight with little outside help other than several texts, the magazine Aero and the engineering skills of his younger brother Reginald Charles.

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