20 | FLIGHTPATH
the first airline to ply the coastal route
north from Brisbane.
At full fleet strength, reached late in
1930, the company boasted two Avro Tens
- VH-UNJ ‘Star of Townsville’ (c/n 371) and
VH-UPI ‘Star of Mackay’ (c/n 468), the Avro
Five VH-UNK ‘Star of Cairns’ (c/n 370), and
two de Havilland DH.60 Gipsy Moths. The
Moths were used primarily for general com-
munications work, including locating new
landing grounds for mainline aircraft, but
also filled other roles as joy flight machines
and trainers. All five aircraft were painted
in a strikingly attractive livery – a pale blue
fuselage, silver wings and horizontal tail
surfaces, a black and white chequered fin
and rudder, with black registration lettering
outlined in white. The base of operations
was a rented hangar at Eagle Farm aero-
drome, as Archerfield had not yet come into
aviation prominence.
QAN’s inaugural flight was flown by Cap-
tain Treacy in the ‘Star of Townsville’. It left
Brisbane for Townsville, via Maryborough,
Rockhampton and Mackay, on 31 March- The return flight from Townsville, de-
parting on 1 April, carried the airline’s first
fare-paying passenger bearing ticket no.1,
Mr. G. Barrymore, editor of the ‘Townsville
Daily Bulletin’. This service was subse-
quently flown twice weekly. On 12 August
1930, QAN commenced a thrice-weekly ser-
vice to Grafton, a major centre in northern
New South Wales. Passengers, freight and
contract mail was carried over the network,
but no actual subsidy was granted by the
Australian government of the day to assist
in meeting the high costs of maintaining op-
erations. The list of pilots employed to fly
these schedules included such notable avia-
tors as G. McCausland, J. Branch, D.P. Da-
vidson, J. Beresford and K. Frewin.
The idea of regular air services to the far
north of Queensland via the coastal route
from the state capital was a novelty, and
even Qantas had only commenced operating
schedules from Brisbane in the year preced-
ing QAN’s incorporation, to Charleville. The
railway was very much the accepted mode
of travel in those days, and this was a major
factor in QAN not being granted a subsidy.
However, initial public reaction to the ser-
vice was quite encouraging, although there
is little doubt more passengers would have
flown with QAN, had they been able to af-
ford it. Overhead costs for pioneer airlines
were always high and this, coupled with
slow passenger growth, resulted in revenue
figures falling short of the break-even point.
The actual difference was not great, but was
sufficient to bleed off reserve finance that
had been held for emergencies. The Great
Depression, which Australia faced at the
time, certainly contributed to this sad state
of affairs. Apparently the airline was offer-
ing its services a good deal ahead of its time,
as its value to the people of Queensland was
blatantly ignored by official authorities in
favour of the state-run railways. This par-
ticular problem was a common one shared
by early airlines around the world.
Near the end of 1930, QAN’s first year of
operations, the senior executives of theABOVE: VH-UPI in Airlines of Australia markings.
ABOVE RIGHT: VH-UNJ in the markings of New England
Airways after its purchase from Queensland Air
Navigation. It appears to be parked next to VH-UIZ, New
England’s Ryan B-1 Brougham ‘City of Lismore’.