A major event in Australian newspaper history - the first regular delivery of papers by air- is captured in these photographs . It was launched by the Melbourne Herald,a special stamp issued to mark the occasion. Captain Roy King, DSO,DFC, was credited with being the first aviator in Australia to deliver a single copy of a newspaper on a non-stop flight to Ballarat, neatly dropping it on the subscriber's lawn .
A 1923 account of the new fangled aerial newspaper delivery system said another "gallant pilot", Major H. T. Shaw ,OBE, used to land on the lawn at the naval station at Crib Point and discuss afternoon tea with the officers there, half an hour after leaving Melbourne , 50 miles away.
All the pilots in the Herald delivery scheme, war men of distinction , had become very expert. Where there was no landing , they would swoop down 50 to 100 feet off the ground and the newspaper parcel would either be dropped by hand or observer , or released by the pilot with the aid of " a mechanical contrivance similar to those used in the bomb-dropping machines ."
Papers were either tied in bundles or sewn into canvas bags . Sometimes they bounced like an Indian rubber ball when they hit the ground near a white sheet or a smoke fire placed at the target by the newsagent.
On a few occasions they smashed into smithereens. Once, at Sorrento , a bundle went through the verandah to the " great atonishment " of the occupants.
In 1923 papers were carried on the aerial mail service established by the Commonwealth government in West Australia . A similar aerial mail service in the eastern states would link Brisbane and Adelaide , via Sydney and Hay , with an intermediate service connecting Melbourne and Hay .
In this way, a plane , with a maximum load of half a ton , also fitted out to take passengers like planes on the London and Paris route, would leave Brisbane in the morning, arrive in Sydney at noon , and get to Hay by 3pm , where another relay machine would carry on to Adelaide , enabling the Brisbane morning paper to land in Adelaide on the day of publication ,1500 miles away-some newspaper delivery!
The article went on to say it appeared the big metropolitan newspapers were keen to get as many papers on this run . However, it appeared they must each operate their own aeroplane .
