On this day in Wangaratta the famous female aviator Amy Johnson landed at Bowser. The landing was quite a coup for the town as Wangaratta was the only stopover on her route from Canberra to Melbourne. Newspaper reports put the crowd at 17,000!
These images were taken by local photographer G. E. (Godfrey Ernest) Roberts and come from the collection of the State Library of Victoria. If you look closely at the first image you can see an awful lot of the local police got front row seats! Their shiny police helmets are a giveaway.
This report from the Maitland Mercury tells all.
A better image of Johnson’s Gypsy Moth can be viewed at the Coffs Harbour Library here and an image of Major de Havilland’s Hawk Moth which accompanied Amy to Melbourne can be viewed here.