eHive Object Details

Name/TitlePioneer Australian aviators : Lores Bonney and Bert Hinkler

About this objectLores Bonney, although little known today, was one of Australia’s most accomplished female aviators. She was born in South Africa in 1897 and moved with her family to Melbourne in 1903. In 1917 she met and married Harrey Bonney, a wealthy leather merchant and they went to live in Brisbane.

Lores had her first taste of flying when Bert Hinkler, famous Australian aviator, took her for a flight in his Avro Avian light aircraft in 1928. Lores took flying lessons and qualified first as a private pilot and later gained a Commercial Pilot’s Licence. She bought a De Havilland Gipsy Moth which she christened ‘My Little Ship’ and in this aircraft she embarked on long-distance flights. The first of these, in 1931, was from Brisbane to Wangaratta in Victoria in a time of fourteen-and-a-quarter hours, at the time the longest solo flight by a woman in Australia. Next, between 15th and 27th of September 1932, she became the first woman to fly around Australia

Lores next set her sights on becoming the first woman to fly solo from Australia to England, the opposite direction to most such flights. After “My Little Ship” had been thoroughly overhauled she left Brisbane on 12 April 1933 and headed north. On 20 April the aircraft was badly damaged in a crash landing north of Singapore and repairs took a month. After many further incidents and adventures Lores reached Croydon on 21 June.

Lores wanted to be the first person to fly solo from Australia to South Africa. For this flight she bought a Klemm KL32 monoplane and christened it “My Little Ship II”. She left Brisbane on 9 April, 1937. After a very eventful flight, including several crash landings, she reached Cape Town on 17 August.

World War 2 put a stop to Lores’ long distance flights and she never went back to flying. She died in 1994, aged 96.

In 1928, Bert Hinkler, originally from Bundaberg in Queensland, made history by becoming the first person to fly solo from England to Australia. He was born in Bundaberg in 1892, the son of a stockman. He became interested in aviation, joined the Queensland Aero Club and built two gliders.

In 1913 Hinkler went to England where he got a job with the Sopwith Aircraft Company. After war broke out in 1914 he joined the Royal Naval Air Service as an observer and gunner. Later, he qualified as a pilot and in July 1918 he was posted to No. 28 Squadron, RAF.

After the War, Hinkler bought an Avro Baby light aircraft and undertook a record-breaking flight from Croydon to Turin. He shipped the Avro to Australia and made several flights here. These included a non-stop flight from Sydney Bundaberg in eight and three-quarter hours, at the time the world’s longest solo flight. He returned to England, worked as test pilot for the Avro Company and bought his famous Avro Avian, registered as G-EBOV.

In February 1928 Hinkler flew his Avian from London to Darwin in sixteen days, becoming the first person to fly solo from England to Australia. He was given £2000 by the Australian Government and made an honorary squadron leader in the Royal Australian Air Force.

He went back to England and later went to Canada where he bought a De Havilland Puss Moth and flew it to England. He planned another flight to Australia in the Puss Moth. He left Heathrow on 7th January 1933 and disappeared. In April 1933 wreckage and his body were found in the Apennines between Florence and Arezzo. He was buried in Florence with full military honours.

When on his long flights Hinkler was known to sing to pass the time, leading C. J. Dennis to pen a poem about him called The Singing Ace.

One of the many slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.

This image is provided for research purposes and must not be reproduced without prior permission.For a high resolution copy of this image, contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria

MakerGunn's Slides (Firm)

Maker RoleCreator Studio

Object TypeGlass slide

Subject and Association KeywordsCivil aviation

Subject and Association KeywordsLight aircraft

Subject and Association KeywordsFamous aviators

Subject and Association KeywordsNotable flights

Subject and Association KeywordsHinkler, Herbert John Louis, 1892-1933.

Subject and Association KeywordsBonney, Lores, 1897-1994

Subject and Association KeywordsWomen

Medium and MaterialsGelatin silver print on glass

Named CollectionImages collection

Object numberGS-IT-71

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved