Category Archives: Aviation

In 1931, aviator Maude ‘Lores’ Bonney broke the Australian record for the longest one-day flight by a woman. On Christmas Day, she flew from Brisbane to Wangaratta, Victoria, completing the longest one-day solo flight by an Australian female pilot.
The following year, Lores became the first woman to circumnavigate Australia by air. After a failed first attempt she successfully flew from Perth to Brisbane in August and September 1932, flying a totally of 13,000km and spending 95 hours and 27 minutes in the air.
Setting her sights internationally, Lores set out to become the first female to fly solo from Australia to England. Leaving Archerfield aerodrome on April 10 1933 on the dangerous journey, she crashed her beloved My Little Ship twice along the way. She landed in Croydon, England, on June 21 1933 having spent 157 hours and 15 minutes airborne.
Lores became the first person to fly solo from Australia to South Africa in 1937. The outbreak of World War II ended her flying career as she was planning her next flight – around the world, via Japan, Alaska and the United States. During the war, Bonney served on the executive of the Women’s Voluntary National Register in Queensland. She returned to flying after the war but retired in 1949 because her eyesight was failing. During the 1950s she was president of the Queensland branch of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association and in January 1991 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) ‘in recognition of service to aviation’.

Pioneering aviator Freda Thompson was the first Australian woman to fly solo from the United Kingdom to Australia, completing the journey in a Gypsy Moth Major in 39 days of flying.