Horatio me old
'twas so. A bit over USD100k then probably $1M now.
Ours were delivered with 2 blades subsequently changed to 3.
MMA were still flying DC3 and the early F27. Both of which we could mix it with on the Perth NW routes. Technically we were not allowed to operate more than twice a month over an RPT route. Doing it almost daily with 3 Navajo and a C402 was a bit of a trick.
Operational control was in effect and the DCA had a room full of clerks checking out flight plans. When it got too hot we would simply ask the miners and oil and gas people to have a quiet chat to the Government or simply ignore them and plan via somewhere enroute
I can still see the mustachioed red faced old MMA Capt berating us for daring to share the same cloudspace with his airliner in IMC with only a SINGLE pilot.
The standard IFR equipment and radar were many generations in front of what they were flying.