Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Turbulent '20s
Australia careered wildly into the 1920s, continuing to invest in immigration and growth.
In Queensland, breathtakingly rich copper, lead, silver and zinc deposits were discovered at
Mt Isa, setting in motion a prosperous new chapter in the history of Queensland mining.
This was also the decade in which intrepid aviators became international celebrities. For
Queensland, a state that felt its isolation profoundly, the aeroplane was a revolutionary in-
vention. The famous airline Qantas (an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory
Aerial Services) was founded at Longreach, in the centre of the state, in 1920. Eight years
later, veteran Queensland aviator Bert Hinkler flew solo from England to Darwin in just 16
days.
It was not just aeroplanes that linked Australia to the rest of the world. Economics, too,
was a global force. In 1929 the Wall St crash and high foreign debt caused the Australian
economy to collapse into the abyss of the Great Depression. Once again, unemployment
brought shame and misery to one in three households, but for those who were wealthy or
employed, the Depression made less of a dent in day-to-day life. In the midst of this hard-
ship, sport diverted a nation in love with games and gambling.
Avian Cirrus,
Bert Hinkler's tiny plane that made the first England-to-Australia solo flight, is on display at the
Queensland Museum in Brisbane.
