When Public Policy Was Written By Telegram
One hundred years ago, one flight launched Qantas and the entire Australian aviation industry. The Great Air Race resulted from one of the most successful public policies ever to promote innovation and economic development in Australia – and it was so simple, it fit on one telegram and a thirty second Parliamentary announcement. With today’s mantras of ‘Jobs, Jobs, Jobs’, wicked problems and complex challenges, it is worth revisiting that policy, and to consider how we can solve our problems.
In late 1918, soon after the Great War ended, the Australian Prime Minister William ‘Billy’ Hughes gathered with global political leaders in Europe for the Paris Peace Conference. At that time, the aviation industry was nascent. Hughes had the privilege of being among the first to experience the flight between Hendon (London) and Buc (Paris) in a Royal Air Forces Handley Page. He rapidly became an aviation enthusiast.
In those days, the streets of London were full of soldiers awaiting demobilisation. On a Christmas Day visit to wounded Australian veterans, Hughes met airmen who were impatiently waiting to be sent back to Australia. They told ‘The Little Digger’, as he was affectionately known, that they wanted to fly their own machines home. Hughes expressed reservations about the safety of such a trip, but he was impressed by their determination. Hughes was aware of a £10,000 prize on offer at the time for an aircraft that could fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. A similar idea that could connect Great Britain with Australia began to fly in his head. Within weeks, Hughes had made contact with key political organisations and figures, including the British Air Minister, who “supported the race wholeheartedly” *1+. On 18 February 1919, Hughes sent the fateful telegram to his cabinet colleagues in Melbourne:
“Several Australians aviators are desirous of attempting flight London to Australia in a Handley Page machine. They are all first class men and very keen... It would be a great advertisement for Australia and would concentrate the eyes of the world upon us if the flight were undertaken.”
It was hard to determine just how to fly the 18,000 km from Great Britain to Australia. The first international passenger service between London and Paris was still just an idea. Airplane crashes were frequent. There weren’t any landing strips along the route. The chances of survival were low. Despite this forecast, on 19 March 1919 in the House of Representatives, Acting Prime Minister William Watt officially announced:
“With a view to stimulating aerial activity, the Commonwealth Government has decided to offer £10,000 for the first successful flight to Australia from Great Britain, in a machine manned by Australians. The rules and conditions governing the contest are now being drawn up, and it is proposed that competitors be required to supply their own machines and to make all other necessary arrangements in connection to the flight”. [2]
On 25 May 1919, two months later, the competition rules set out by the Aero Royal Club were announced. There was a 16 month window to undertake the flight, and entries were open to any Australian pilot and navigator completing the journey within 30 days. All the aircrafts had to be privately financed and British made. Teams had to waive the right to claim for injuries or loss [3]. By 18 October, eight teams had entered.
The reaction of the press was not optimistic. The Melbourne Age called it “a circus flight – a poorly disguised attempt at self-advertisement at the expense of the Australian public”, and the Argus newspaper sarcastically claimed that the flight would prove so easy there was no necessity to throw away good money on the project. The Corowa Free Press didn’t hesitate to express their distaste: “they ought to carry as passengers on the experimental voyage as many Federal Members as possible and leave them somewhere else”. [4]
Despite all that negativity, nine months after the official announcement, and after 27 days and 20 hours of flying time, the Vickers Vimy G-EAOU manned by Ross Smith, his brother Keith and mechanics Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett, landed on the coast of Darwin. It was one of the greatest aviation achievements ever made, and just six months after the first flight across the Atlantic.
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Presentation of a cheque for 10,000 pounds to Ross Smith, by Prime Minister W.M. Hughes at a luncheon given by the Commonwealth Government at Federal Parliament, 27/2/1920. Walter Shiers, James Bennett, and Keith Smith are standing in the background. Image courtesy of State Library of South Australia (PRG 18/7/73) https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/2821
The £10,000 award policy was virtuous in several aspects:
It was problem-oriented: We often see contests or awards. However, the virtue of the Great Air Race was that the award was granted to those who solved a specific problem – flying from Britain to Australia in 30 days – rather than the ‘best’ application of a specific technology;
It encouraged the application of new technologies: The race’s rules weren’t prescriptive. They acknowledged the dawn of aviation technology and encouraged citizens to use it for a purposeful goal;
It was collaborative and involved the community and private sector;
Participants had to develop their own plans, resources and knowledge, and they had
to collaborate with others to put an aircraft on the starting line.;
It was inherently consultative: The government secured a successful outcome simply by granting an attractive award and bringing the problem to the table. The solution was delivered by the community. Such policies don’t demand consultation. The policy is the consultation;
It appealed to Australians’ ingenuity and creativity, and it prompted the inception of
other ideas, projects and industries;
It wasn’t oriented towards creating jobs: None of the historical literature mentions
the term ‘job creation’. The intent of the race was simply to promote ‘aerial activity’. It challenged the community to create a solution. Eventually the solution, and what followed, created jobs by the thousands, along with iconic businesses and unprecedented services; and
It was extremely low cost: given the significance of this breakthrough and its ultimate impact on Australia’s economy, the level of public investment was a trifle compared to its return on investment.
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Everyone knows Sirs Ross, Keith Smith, Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett, but some lesser known pilots involved in the Great Air Race had just as significant an impact on our aviation sector. Pilots Paul McGinness and Hudson Fysh, and mechanic Arthur Baird, first met in the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) in Palestine during the First World War. They had become good friends during their time in service, and were discussing possible future endeavours on their journey home to Australia, when the Great Air Race was announced.
The three submitted their entry, and secured the sponsorship of Sir Samuel McCaughey. When they were about to leave for London, they received the news their sponsor had died suddenly. Without funds behind them, McGinness and Fysh were forced to withdraw their entry. All was not lost though – instead, the Defence Department commissioned them to survey suitable landing sites for the race participants in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Their goal was to identify and stock sites around 400 miles apart that were suitable for aerodromes or possible forced landings. [5]
In their converted Model T Ford, McGinness and Fysh struggled to complete their work on such difficult terrain during a 51-day trip. The region was subject to seasonal flooding, and there were few formed roads or bridges, but the flat, open country offered good visibility and areas for landing grounds. The survey indicated just how valuable an aerial service could be to the region’s communities.
The enactment of the 1920 Air Navigation Act excited Fysh and McGinness, and a business idea began ticking over. A chance encounter in Cloncurry, near Mt Isa, gave them the start they needed. Fergus McMaster, a wealthy grazier, was crossing the Cloncurry River when one of his car’s axles broke. Paul McGinness helped repair the vehicle, and the two started a conversation about aviation. McMaster was soon on board, offering strong business guidance and connections with other investors from the region. Arthur Baird, the mechanic Fysh and McGinness served with in Palestine, was convinced to sell his garage business and become their first employee. On 16 November 1920, eleven months after the first flight from Great Britain to Australia, they registered The Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd, Qantas, as a company.
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The Great Air Race was an effective policy. We still enjoy the long-lasting effects of its outcome. The role the aviation industry has played in Australia’s development is immeasurable.
Those who work in the public service are flooded with articles, reports, white papers and keynotes referring to the complex times we live in and the even more complex public policies we must develop to address the challenges we face. Is that true? Are our policy needs more complex than those considered during a Peace Conference to end the First World War? Are they more complex than a policy that kickstarted the Australian aviation industry in just eleven months?
The Great Air Race ticks all the boxes of a well-rounded, contemporary public policy. It was problem-based, it was collaborative, it was developed in consultation with the community, it involved a systems approach, it encouraged the community to create and bear risks. It was a simple policy, but it delivered on a complex outcome.
CODA
In anticipation of the Centenary of the Great Air Race, a re-run using renewable-powered electric aircrafts was in the works. Despite thirty teams registering, the organisers had “no option but to cancel the race” [6]. Why? The 25 governments along the route couldn’t agree on arrangements for safe passage. A hundred years on, with all the technological means at our disposal, we are killing opportunities for innovation.
PUBLISHER
Urban Future Exchange (previously known as the Australian Institute of Urban Studies SA)
REFERENCES
[1] Great Air Race – London – Darwin 1919-2019; www.greatairrace.com.au
[2] Semple, Clive; Airway to the East 1918-1920 , Casemate Publishers, 2012
[3] Nasht, Simon; The Last Explorer – Hubert Wilkins – Australia’s Unknown Hero, Hodder Australia (2005)
[4] Nasht, Simon; The Last Explorer – Hubert Wilkins – Australia’s Unknown Hero, Hodder Australia (2005)
[5] Getting the flying kangaroo off the ground, The People & Environment Blog, National Museum of Australia, 16 November 2014, accessed on 29 April 2019. https://pateblog.nma.gov.au/2014/11/16/getting-the-flying- kangaroo-offthe- ground/
[6] Great Air Race 2019 Cancelled, Australianaviation.com.au (April 8, 2019) https://australianaviation.com.au/2019/04/great-air-race-2019-cancelled/