darwin • Find • State Library of South Australia

Plan of Overland Telegraph from Port Darwin to Port Augusta [cartographic material] / compiled and drawn in the Office of the Post Master General and Superintendent of Telegraphs by Alexander Ringwood ; Frazer S. Crawford, Photolithographer

Ringwood, Alexander, 1873, Archival map/chart, C 1093

Map of northern South Australia and Northern Territory showing the Overland Telegraph Line from Port Augusta, South Australia, to Palmerston in the north. Shows boundaries of counties and hundreds, telegraph line, natural features and notes and routes made by the Surveyor General, telegraph construction parties, etc. Relief shown by hachures. Details of the northern section from Palmerston to Katherine Station include coast, rivers and creeks, ranges, tablelands. Part 2 covers the area from the Roper River to Ashburton Range, Powell's Creek Station and Mt. Willieray just north of Tennant Creek and includes some notes on natural features.

Vaccination certificates

Barnes, Geoffrey, 1967, Manuscript, PRG 1540/6

Booklet of vaccination certificates issued to Geoffrey Barnes by the army prior to his posting to Vietnam. The course of vaccinations began in 1967 before he left for Vietnam and continued soon after his arrival there. Geoffrey Barnes' unit was originally called 8 Field Ambulance but later became the 1st Australian Field Hospital. Geoffrey Barnes had refresher courses of vaccinations in Darwin in 1969 before departing Australia for a trip to Europe, and again in 1970 and 1971 while on his overland trip and before returning to Australia.

Tracing showing position of Stuart's marked tree [cartographic material]

n.d., Archival map/chart, C 88

Shows Stuart's marked tree and place where flag hoisted. Includes Port Darwin and Palmerston, Port Daly, Point Stuart, Chambers and Finke Bay and Adelaide and Mary River. Ink on paper with Stuart's tracks shown in red ink.

Photograph of painting of Vickers Vimy and crowd.

Smith, Keith Macpherson, Sir, 1919, Photograph, PRG 18/7/47

Photograph of a painting of a crowd gathered to view the Vickers Vimy at Darwin.

Letter from Ross Smith following World War I to his mother, on board Royal Indian Marine Ship Minto

Smith, Ross Macpherson, Sir, 1919, Manuscript, PRG 18/17/56

Letter from Ross to his mother, Jessie Smith, following active service during World War I. Written on 15 and 27 March, and 5 April 1919 at sea on board the Royal Indian Marine Ship Minto (R.I.M.S.). Mentions leaving Calcutta with General Burton and steaming down the Burma coast to Rangoon and further North, to Victoria Point in Burma and on to Penang and Singapore searching for aircraft landing positions along the way with aim of landing 350 to 400 mile distances before flying the 280 miles of open sea to Port Darwin. Speaks of possible delays to the flight to Australia due to the weather and rainy season.

Tablet marking the landing spot of the Vickers Vimy

Smith, Keith Macpherson, Sir, c. 1950, Photograph, PRG 18/16/20

View of a tablet created to mark the spot where the Vickers Vimy first touched down in Australia. Inscribed on tablet: 'The first aeroplane to fly from England to Australia landed here 10th December 1919'.

Vickers Vimy and crew at Cobbs Creek

Smith, Keith Macpherson, Sir, 1919, Photograph, PRG 18/55/8

Vickers Vimy crew with W. Peacock and Sergeant Shetton of the Police, enjoying lunch at Cobbs Creek, Northern Territory, 14 December 1919.

Photographs collected and taken by Dorothy Pyatt OAM

Pyatt, Dorothy, c. 1870, Photograph, B 77447/1-101

Photographs collected and taken by Dorothy Pyatt OAM in South Australia and Northern Territory

Photographs

Smith, Anita, Lady, 1919, Photograph, PRG 301/6

Photographs of Ross and Keith Smith and crew, and memorials for the crew and first England-Australia flight. See below for details.

Three portrait photographs and crew of the 'Venture'.

Gee, Lionel C. E., 1905, Photograph, PRG 326/4/84

Three individual photographs: L.C.E. Gee, H.Y.L. Brown, H. Basedow and as well as the crew and passengers of the 'Venture' at Port Darwin

Etienne Poulet and Jean Benoist during the 1919 Air Race

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1919, Photograph, B 78162

Etienne Poulet and Jean Benoist in front of their Caudron G4, 9 November 1919. French pilot Etienne Poulet and his mechanic Jean Benoist attempted to fly to Australia at the same time as the 1919 England-Australia Air Race, despite being ineligible for the competition. They left Paris on 14 October 1919 in a Caudron G4. The Vickers Vimy Crew overtook Poulet in Burma on 29 November 1919 and he decided to abandon his attempt in Thailand around 12 December 1919.

Etienne Poulet and Jean Benoist during the 1919 Air Race

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1919, Photograph, B 78163

Etienne Poulet and Jean Benoist with their Caudron G4, just before leaving Bandar Abbas, 9 November 1919. French pilot Etienne Poulet and his mechanic Jean Benoist attempted to fly to Australia at the same time as the 1919 England-Australia Air Race, despite being ineligible for the competition. They left Paris on 14 October 1919 in a Caudron G4. The Vickers Vimy Crew overtook Poulet in Burma on 29 November 1919 and he decided to abandon his attempt in Thailand around 12 December 1919.

Ross and Keith Smith at Bandar Abbas

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1919, Photograph, B 78164

Ross and Keith Smith in front of the Vickers Vimy at Bandar Abbas, Iran on 23 November 1919.

Ross Smith at Bandar Abbas

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1919, Photograph, B 78165

Ross Smith in front of the Vickers Vimy at Bandar Abbas, putting on his Sidcot flying suit before take-off on 24 November 1919.

Keith Smith at Bandar Abbas

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1919, Photograph, B 78166

Keith Smith in front of the Vickers Vimy at Bandar Abbas, in his Sidcot flying suit before take-off on 24 November 1919.

Ross Smith at Bandar Abbas

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1919, Photograph, B 78167

Ross Smith in his Sidcot flying suit, sitting in the cockpit of the Vickers Vimy at Bandar Abbas, before take-off on 24 November 1919.

Vickers Vimy and crew departing Bandar Abbas

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1919, Photograph, B 78168

The Vickers Vimy and crew about to take-off from Bandar Abbas, Iran on 24 November 1919.

Thomas Kay and George Matthews in the England-Australia Air Race, Bandar Abbas

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1920, Photograph, B 78169

Thomas Kay and George Matthews in front of their Sopwith Wallaby G-EAKS, after repairs to the aircraft. They left Bandar Abbas on 24 February 1920. The Sopwith Wallaby crew comprised Captain George Campbell Matthews as pilot and Sergeant Thomas D. Kay as mechanic. Departed Hounslow 21 October 1919, crashed at Grokgk, Bali 17 April 1920.

Thomas Kay and George Matthews in the England-Australia Air Race, Bandar Abbas

MunGavin, George Alexander, 1920, Photograph, B 78170

Thomas Kay and George Matthews with their Sopwith Wallaby G-EAKS, undergoing repairs at the repair camp on a beach 20 miles west of Bandar Abbas. They crash landed in sandstorm at this location on 3 February 1920. Repairs took 3 weeks. The man on the extreme right of the photo is an officer of the Italian Air Force who was awaiting the arrival of the aircraft of the Rome-Tokyo flight. Matthews and Kay left Bandar Abbas on 24 February 1920. The Sopwith Wallaby crew comprised Captain George Campbell Matthews as pilot and Sergeant Thomas D. Kay as mechanic. Departed Hounslow 21 October 1919, crashed at Grokgk, Bali 17 April 1920.