Aerial view - Historic images - Walkabout : Diggers Rest - Victoria Australia

Описание: Diggers Rest, a small township set in rural surrounds, but residential estates are popping up all the time and is on the Calder Freeway 38km (23.6mi) north-west of Melbourne the state capital of Victoria Australia.

It is on the Melbourne suburban rail network, so it's an easy commute into the Melbourne CBD.

Diggers Rest's origins lay in it being a convenient stopping place for gold miners en route to the Bendigo and adjacent goldfields, with Caroline Chisholm that had a women's shelter at Diggers Rest.

A hotel built in 1852 was opened at the junction of the roads to Bendigo and Bulla.
A railway station was opened on the line from Melbourne to Sunbury in 1859.
A primary school was opened in 1874, and Diggers Rest became a postal village with a general store, post office, weighbridge, mechanics' institute and a chaff mill.

Over one hundred and 10 years ago in March 1910, two pioneering aviators were camped in a wind-swept paddock at Diggers Rest, vying for the record of being the first person to achieve a controlled powered flight in Australia.
Ralph Conningsby Banks was first to take to the air on the 1st of March in an imported Wright Model A Flyer. He had barely covered 300 metres at a height of less than 5 metres, when a sudden wind gust forced the plane into a dive ending with a heavy landing that somersaulted the plane. Banks was thrown clear and escaped with only minor injuries, but was badly shaken, while the plane was so damaged it took weeks to repair.

His competitor was the Hungarian-born American showman and escapologist Ehrich Weiss (aka Harry Houdini), who had personally imported a French-built Voisin biplane with the aim of achieving the first flight in Australia. After several earlier attempts were frustrated by strong winds, Houdini finally took off shortly after 8 am on Friday 18 March and flew a full circle of the paddock before landing less than a minute later. Two further flights followed the same day lasting up to 3.25 minutes in duration and reaching a height of 30 metres.
Ever the self-publicist, Houdini ensured that a reporter from The Argus and photographer were present to record the event and had nine spectators, including Ralph Banks, sign a witness statement recording his achievement. Further successful flights by Houdini followed over the next three days culminating in a flight lasting 7 minutes 37 seconds that covered almost 9.6 kms (6mi).
Houdini was awarded a trophy by the Aerial League of Australia, recognising his flight of 18 March 1910 as the first successful controlled flight by a powered aircraft in Australia. The true honour for the first powered flight in Australia, however, probably goes to Capt. Colin Defries, who on 9 December 1909 made a flight at Victoria Park Racecourse in Sydney, using the same Wright Flyer that Banks would later use at Diggers Rest.

A large Defence Department communication installations once occupied fields south of the town. The hotel burnt down in 2008 and fire damaged part of the general store and post office in 2011.
Another noted Diggers Rest-born resident is freestyle aerial skier Lydia Lassila who won a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Credits / Resources:
https://collections.museumsvictoria.c...
https://collections.museumsvictoria.c...
https://victoriancollections.net.au/c...
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/2311007...
https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/di...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers...
http://www.victorianrailways.net/phot...
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