Queensland beginnings | State Library of New South Wales

Queensland beginnings

Qantas was founded in Queensland by former Australian Flying Corps members, W. Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness. In 1919, they identified a need in the remote areas of outback Queensland and Northern Territory for a fast and reliable mail and delivery service. Distances like these, they reasoned, could only be effectively covered by plane. With the financial backing of grazier, Fergus McMaster, Fysh and McGinness registered their new company in 1920. With McMaster as chairman, Queensland and Northern Territory Air Services Limited, or QANTAS, was based in Winton, Queensland.  In 1922, the Qantas began a scheduled mail route between Charleville and Cloncurry. The first flight on this route also saw the first passenger on a scheduled flight. He was adventurous 82-year-old Alexander Kennedy, who flew from Longreach to Cloncurry, receiving passenger ticket no. 1.

The brochure below is from 1929, the year Qantas moved its headquarters to Brisbane. It details the timetable of scheduled flights on the Brisbane - Normanton air route as well as prices, how to book, and what to expect from your flight.

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 > View the entire brochure on the Library's catalogue Link to catalogue