Andrew and I managed to get to the Bert Hinkler Aviation Museum this morning before our golf date in the afternoon.
Bert Hinkler was one of the very early Australian Aviators, born and breed in Bundaberg. He went off to WW1 and then lived in the UK predominantly, unto his death attempting to break the flying record to Australia crashing into a mountain near Florence in Italy at the age of 40. He is most remembered for the first solo flight between England and Australia in 1928 and he had other record breaking flights as well. It’s amazing that nearly 60 years later his legacy continued although tragically with NASA’s Shuttle flights, but more about that below with the photos.
Bert Hinkler’s presence is seen and felt all over Bundaberg and other than the “Rum” Bert Hinkley would have to be Bundberg’s next local famous icon but probably not known as much as “Bundy Rum”. Sir Kingsford Smith tends to get the major plaudits re Australian aviators but there have been many others that have contributed to Australia’s aviation history but Bert may have been number 1 when you look into his credits. Anyway it was a very good museum and well worth visiting if you are in Bundaberg.
Bert’s AVRO that he flew from Sydney to Bundaberg in. He landed in afield just up from his parents place and taxied it to and parked in the garden out front.This is a replica of the glider that Bert built and taught himself to fly near Bundaberg at Mon Repos.Bert’s family home in Bundaberg North was being renovated by its new owners and they discovered many components from Bert’s gliders that he had built 60 years earlier. The above is a part of a wing rib that was given to NASA and eventually found its way above the Space Shuttle “Challenger”. Dick Scobbee was the commander of Challenger and he had this in a sealed plastic bag in his locker on board the Shuttle. As we all know Challenger tragically exploded about 90 seconds after take off, killing all abound. A few days later the the plastic bag was found floating in the water. 18 months after the disaster, Dick Scobbee’s wife presented the above to the City of Bundaberg where it now resided in the Hinkler Museum. Truly an amazing story!Bert Hinkler’s home (Mon Repos) from Southampton in the UK, was disassembled and brought to Australia in 1983 and re-built in the Botanic Gardens. Basically a re-run of Captain Cook’s Cottage in Melbourne. The Hinkler Museum sits alongside “Mon Repos” within the Botanic Gardens in Bundaberg.
Be Brave on Tour 