On the morning of Thursday 23 August 1928 a light plane was seen to approach Taree from the south, turn along Victoria Street and jettison a small bag, weighted with sand, which landed close to the War Memorial (then located at the intersection of Victoria and Manning Streets). Red, white and blue ribbons were attached to the bag and these streamers assisted to slow its descent. 1 What could this mean?
Following the attached instructions, the package was taken to Connell’s, the local agent for the Texas Oil Co. 2
Inside the bag was a message requesting that the following be immediately wired to the head office of Texas Oil in Sydney
“Message dropped from Texas Moth plane attempting Sydney-Brisbane non-stop flight, passing Taree at 9.25am Aug 23; running like a sweet song: cheerio. G N Mills, pilot”. 3
The significance of this cryptic message was revealed when it became known that Mills and his passenger, Mr W Shiers, had left Mascot Aerodrome at 7.30am that morning carrying 40 gallons of fuel (Texaco of course), with the aim of establishing a record time for light planes for the flight to Brisbane. 4
Mission accomplished in just 6 hrs 40 mins, Mills then went on the win the Amateur Pilots’ Race at the Queensland Air Pageant held on the Saturday. 5
Author: Penny Teerman
References:
1 Manning River Times Saturday 25 August 1928 Pg 12
2 Manning River Times Saturday 1 September 1928 Pg 7
3 Manning River Times Saturday 25 August 1928 Pg 12
4 Sydney Morning Herald Friday 24 August 1928 Pg 14
5 The Sun Tuesday 28 August 1928 Pg 9
