Australian Events

Posted in 1928

  • Kingsford Smith flies the PacificCharles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm and two Americans complete the first trans-Pacific flight crossing from San Francisco to Brisbane by way of Honolulu and Fiji.
  • Australian airman Bert Hinkler becomes the first person to fly solo from Britain to Australia. The flight is completed in less than fifteen and a half days.

Charles Kingsford Smith

  • The world's first flying medical service, the Aerial Medical Service was established on an experimental basis at Cloncurry, Queensland. Its first response to a call came on 17th May, 1928, with a flight from Cloncurry to Julia Creek.
  • The service was founded by 'Flynn of the Inland', the Reverend John Flynn; the first pilot was Qantas' Arthur Affleck, and the first flying doctor Sydney surgeon Dr Kenyon Welch, who was chosen from a list of volunteers. In the first year Dr Welch saw 255 patients suffering conditions from typhoid fever to gunshot wounds.
  • Aboriginals Ordinance decrees that only the NT Chief Protector could issue licences to employ Aboriginals.