Last changed 16 December 2021
1961 NTA traverse
July-August 1961 NT Administration traverse from Wave Hill to Powell
Creek
Vern T O’Brien (surveyor)
Dave Renehan (survey driver, Alice Springs)
Rod Dixon (stock inspector)
in two vehicles
Subsequently the placenames Renehan Ridges and Dixon Ridge were
officially recognised.
On 24 July 1961 the party chanced upon the remains of the Kookaburra
aircraft.
Senior Surveyor V.T. O'Brien, accompanied by Stock Inspector Dixon
and
driver Renehan were penetrating lonely country when they made the
discovery.
Earlier, Alice Springs Supervising Surveyor, Mr. H.M. Hocking,
Senior
Surveyor O'Brien and Stock Inspector Dixon had made an aerial
reconaissance of the country bteween Powell Creek and the Wave
Hill-Hooker Creek road. (NT News 3/8/1961, 4
An expedition has failed to locate the remains of the Westland
Widgeon
G–AUKA Kookaburra lost during 1929 during the search for
the
Southern Cross. The expedition, led by Dr. C.J. Hilton of the
Museum
and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory hoped to recover the
wreckage for exhibition in the Darwin Military Museum. A dispute
has
arisen as to whether the aircraft should be recovered and where it
should be shown and who has actual title to it. The aircraft was
relocated in 1961 but has since not been able to be discovered by
several expeditions mounted. (AHSA 1975:69-70)
Davis (1980:115) summarises the 1961 discovery.
The previous year O'Brien made a similar
traverse.
References
Ellis, Lindsay. 1961. Ghost plane of the dead heart. Australasian
Post 28 September
1961, 2–4.
Surveyors find crash remains. NT News Thursday 3 August
1961, page 4
AHSA. 1975. Monthly notes — Museum. Aviation Historical Society
of
Australia Journal 16.5(November–December 1975),69-70. http://ahsa.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AHSA_1975_JN_Vol_16_No_05.pdf
Davis, Pedr. 1980. Kookaburra.
The
most compelling story in
Australia's aviation history. Research by Dick
Smith.
Story by
Pedr Davis. [Cataloguing-in-Publication Data has different
subtitle: Australian aviation's most compelling story.] Sydney,
Auckland, London, New York: Landsdowne Press.
O'Brien, V.T. 1961. Proposed road - Wave Hill to Stuart
Highway.
Instruction 61/10. [Report to Surveyor General, Darwin.]
Folios
17-20 of L757. 10th August 1961. 4 pages ts.
O'Brien, V.T. 1961. Exploratory Survey west of Tennant Creek. Map
1:1000000 [REB 1.6.60] 41/60
Letters from VT O’Brien: 6 July 1984, 2p. (S76/1090 L757); 19 March
1992 (S76/1090), 1p.
To Kookaburra page
To Karlantijpa page
©
2021
David
Nash
Created 11 December 2021
Modified 16 December 2021
URL http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/kt/1961-OBrien.html