In 1928 , Bert Hinkler , above, was the first person to fly solo from England to Australia – Darwin- and was rewarded by the government with a cigarette case and a cheque . Songs such as this one, from the Little Darwin Ephemera Collection, were written about him ; he married in 1932 at the age of 39 and died when he crashed in Italy a year later attempting to break another Australian record.
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With so many people coming to town for the Bombing of Darwin 70th anniversary it is hoped that somebody in authority arranges to clean up-before the weekend - the neglected Victoria Hotel Arcade site highlighting early aviators . The display, headed VICTORIA HOTEL-THE AVIATORS' HOME AWAY FROM HOME, has an associated showcase , with names of pioneering aviators scratched on the stonework, festooned inside by cobwebs, gecko droppings and dead insects.
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With so many people coming to town for the Bombing of Darwin 70th anniversary it is hoped that somebody in authority arranges to clean up-before the weekend - the neglected Victoria Hotel Arcade site highlighting early aviators . The display, headed VICTORIA HOTEL-THE AVIATORS' HOME AWAY FROM HOME, has an associated showcase , with names of pioneering aviators scratched on the stonework, festooned inside by cobwebs, gecko droppings and dead insects.
There are exterior cobwebs and when Little Darwin inspected the site on Saturday there was even an unrelated picture of children attached to the front of the showcase. In the planter boxes at the foot of the display were more empty cans and a wider range of rubbish than sighted on a previous visit, indicating the area is neglected and apparently rarely given any attention by Darwin City Council. Leaves and cigarette butts were roundabout .
Some of those whose names are on the wall took part in the two world wars , so that it is also a war memorial , neglected by Darwin authorities who incredibly failed to detect that there are bad spelling errors in the Esplanade war memorial ,which cannot be rectified by the weekend .
One of the famous aviators and inventors who left his mark there was Australia’s Lone Eagle, Bert Hinkler ; Charles Lindbergh being America's Lone Eagle. Hinkler's contribution to the advancement of aviation was so great that a tiny piece of a glider he built as a young man was given to Astronaut , Captain Dick Scobee , aboard the last, ill-fated Challenger mission. Retrieved from the wreckage after the explosion , the piece of wood was returned to the Hinkler Memorial Museum, Bundaberg ,Queensland. Hinkler Crescent,Fannie Bay, perpetuates his name as does a Qantas Airbus .
