We could always start our own "121.5 Guard police" thread like the Pommies have in Rumours and News and we could bicker endlessly - that would surely boost our traffic up to 60% and we could take over the entire forum ...... mwhah haha hah :}

I am eagerly awaiting the spirited and indepth discussion from our compatriots on the Galapagos Island.

That should liven up things around here and no doubt incur the petty wrath of the dunny king

:E:E
Disco Stu:ok:

Preston?:E

Yer forgot Kiribati

To add to tail wheel's list, the portion of Antartica directly below Oz.

The More the Merrier !:ok:

Since when was Antarctica part of Australia?

TT

Tango Two
Since the Antarctic Treaty was agreed to (1959) by all nations with vested interests in Antarctica. A summary can be read here.

Australia lays claim to 42% of the icy continent, far more than anyone else. Sir Douglas Mawson championed long and hard for this territory to be ours.

Now one for the history buffs, who flew the first powered aircraft in Antarctica? He was an Australian and it was was not Mawson. This aviator some years later (1939) was leader of an American financed expedition that was surveying the Antarctic coastline under the Indian Ocean - in an area Mawson had earmarked as ours.

Despite specific instuctions from the USA that he should claim the territory for the United States, this Australian expedition leader and his 2IC (a Canadian IIRC) went ashore (alone, leaving the yanks on the boat) and claimed the territory for King and Commonwealth!

I am one of the fortunate few who have visited this site and held the very flag and signed proclamation in my hand. They remain where they were left, 70 years ago in the same biscuit tin, under the same rock. A very humbling experience.

That would be the great Sir Hubert Wilkins. Even though those of us who have visited his birthplace could be forgiven to believe that it was someone else altogether. That's right - after sponsoring the restoration of this humble little dwelling in the Mid-North of SA, this other fearless birdman had his OWN name engraved with huge letters about a hundred times all over the place, so that any visiting Japanese tourists would leave the place with the distinct impression that the answer to Stallie's little riddle was ...........(this is a new riddle, and you don't even need to visit Sir Hubert's birth place to have a crack at figuring THIS one out).

Tail Wheel,

What about Heard, Macdonald, Norfolk and Lord Howe islands? And what about the Chathams? :=

Taildragger 67
You say:
"Tail Wheel,

What about Heard, Macdonald... "

Should that be Macquarie Island (commonly known as Macca's) , or is there another one out there we should know about:confused:

And surely Norfolk, Lord Howe and Chathams are covered by the big "P"!!

Mate! Great Barrier Island, NZ. Even has its own Airline "Great Barrier Airlines":ok:

Wideglider, a number of Pacific Islands have their own airline, even NZ, it has 'paperclip airlines'.

:EDisco Stu:E

Hey there "dancing boy"!

I think you should change your name to "Disco Stirrer":}

Still you raise a good point, Kiwi's can fly anything!
They were the first to ever take to the air! Forget the Wright brothers! And I would not be surprised to find a paper clip somewhere in that aircraft!

Stu, this stirrings fun!:ok: I see why you do it:E

Must go now to build a fort to ward off the attacks that will no doubt be forthcoming:E:E:E

Cheers Wide1.

Wideglider is correct.

New Zealander Richard Pearce (1877 - 1953) built and flew the first powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, some nine months before the Wright brothers.

Bruny Island, Boigu Island and Brampton Island are also included in D, G & P forum.

Aww...I thought the P stood for Palestine.

I was waiting for some real fireworks!:E:ouch::suspect:

Unfortunately their is no substantial evidence to date that proves with out doubt Pearce undertook sustained CONTROLLED powered flight before the Wright Bros.(Happy if you prove me wrong)

The Wright Bros had the media and reliable witnesses in attendance.They went on to improve the Wright Flyer and built more elaborate models,even making a first in history again by killing the worlds first passenger during a military demo flight.

No, but there is certainly strong circumstantial evidence that Richard Pearce was the first recorded person to sustained controlled flight in a heavier than air machine.

He went on to built what appears to be an early gyrocopter - whether that was a good thing is probably open to debate. :}

Where is 18 wheeler when I need him? :{

MacDonald Island does exist...
 

So does Macquarie Island (which is part of Tasmania), but MacDonald is a different place (best described as in the middle of bugger-all) roughly equal distances from Oz, South Africa and the south pole.

Near Heard Island, if that helps. They're part of Australia, but not part of a state (and I suspect if asylum-seekers ended up there they wouldn't like it)

Good for trivial-pursuit questions:

Where are the only two active volcanoes in Australia? (Heard and MacDonald Islands)

What's the tallest Australian mountain? (One of those volcanoes - Big Ben/Mawson Peak on Heard Island)

If you're near Hobart, take a peek at the Aust Antarctic Survey HQ there - makes me shiver just to look at it...

Many years (40+) ago I saw the remains of the Pearce "aircraft" In AK.
If it ever flew, then....then.. RD Buchanan was a kindhearted avuncular philanthropist :hmm:

Why do men(and some women:ooh:) have to go to the Antarctic to grow beards? Would it not be cheaper to have them do it in Hobart?