4: R. GREIG-SMITH. 



company were killed by the aborigines, but Hargrave was 

 fortunate in escaping with his life and returned to Sydney. 

 Joining a scientific expedition organised by Sir William 

 Macleay, he sailed from Sydney in the "Ohevert," in May 



1875. But too short a visit was made to New Guinea to 

 satisfy Hargrave, who accordingly left the " Ohevert" at 

 Cape York in September. With Petterd and Broadbent,. 

 he then joined O. C. Stone in an excursion inland from Port 

 Moresby. Their discoveries in this direction are recorded 

 by Stone in "A few Months in New Guinea." In May 



1876, Hargrave joined D'Albertis as engineer of the "Neva," 

 in which they ascended the Fly River further than any 

 European had previously penetrated into the interior of 

 Papua. The hardship and exposure of this journey induced 

 severe attacks of fever, and in September 1876 he concluded 

 his travels and came back to Sydney. 



He worked for some years as an assistant astronomical 

 observer at the Sydney Observatory under the late Mr. 

 H. O. Russell, but gave this up and devoted many years to 

 the study of aeronautics, and the success of the present 

 day aeroplanes is largely dependent upon Hargrave's inven- 

 tion of the box-kite. He first studied the motions involved 

 in the flight of birds, and prepared models embodying the 

 principles of the various movements. The success of the 

 models convinced him of the possibility of mechanical flight, 

 and although he did not prepare a complete machine, he 

 was so satisfied with the result of his work that he gave 

 his ideas upon the subject to this Society in August 1884.. 

 The models which served to illustrate his papers are now 

 in the Technological Museum, Sydney. The continuance 

 of his investigations led him to the invention of the cellular 

 or box kite, which he described in 1895. It is as the in- 

 ventor of this kite that his name is so well known, for it 

 has been used by practically every military nation in the 

 world for signalling purposes and by scientists for meteoro- 



