336 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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\*MM ON WEALTH OP Al/sTKAIJA, 



DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 



/ 



W&- 



DRAWING ACCOUNT 



th Bant of Australia 



or order 



Photograph by Captain Frank Hurley 



THE £lO,000 PRIZE PRESENTED BY THE COMMONWEAI/f H OF AUSTRALIA TO SIR ROSS 

 SMITH FOR THE FIRST LONDON -TO- AUSTRALIA AIR VOYAGE 



The commander of the expedition decided that, as all four voyageurs had participated 

 equally in the perils and the labors of the enterprise, they should all share alike in its 

 financial rewards. Each man received a fourth of the prize money. 



We took the opportunity of snatching 

 a speed test, and found that we were 

 averaging seventy-five miles an hour. 



THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF HOME 



An hour later both of us saw ahead 

 and to port what appeared to be haze, 

 but which we hoped was land, though 

 neither dared express his hopes. They 

 were justified, however, ten minutes 

 later, and hailing Bennett and Shiers, 

 we pointed joyfully to Bathurst Island 

 lighthouse. 



It was just 2.6 p. m. when, as our 

 diary prosaically notes, we "observed 

 Australia." At three o'clock we not only 

 observed it, but rested firmly upon it, for, 

 having circled over Darwin and come 

 low enough to observe the crowds and 

 the landing-place, we settled on Terra 

 Australis on December 10th, 27 days 20 

 hours after taking off from Hounslow. 



Two zealous customs and health offi- 

 cials were anxious to examine us, but so 

 were about 2,000 just ordinary citizens, 

 and the odds of 1,000 to 1 were rather 

 long for those departmental men, and our 

 welcome was not delayed. 



The hardships and perils of the past 

 month were forgotten in the excitement 

 of the present. We shook hands with 

 one another, our hearts swelling with 



those emotions invoked by achievement 

 and the glamour of the moment. It was, 

 and will be, perhaps, the supreme hour 

 of our lives. 



Almost reverently we looked over the 

 Vimy, and unspoken admiration crept 

 over us as we paid a silent tribute to 

 those in far-off England for their ster- 

 ling and honest craftsmanship. The suc- 

 cessful issue of the venture, in a great 

 degree, was due to them, and surely they 

 merited and deserved a large proportion 

 of the praise. 



Through every possible climatic rigor 

 the Vimy had passed, and practically 

 without any attention. Not once, from 

 the time we took our departure from 

 Hounslow, had she ever been under 

 shelter. And now, as I looked over her, 

 aglow with pride, the Vimy loomed up as 

 the zenith of man's inventive and con- 

 structional genius. I could find neither 

 fault nor flaw in the construction, and, 

 given a few days overhaul on the engines, 

 the Vimy would have been quite capable 

 of turning round and flying back to Eng- 

 land. 



OUR WELCOME home 



These reflections were of brief dura- 

 tion, for the crowd, having satisfied its 

 curiosity over the machine, directed it to 



