Rose Bay’s international links
Rose Bay became Sydney’s first international airport in the 1930s. Flying-boat services connected Australia with overseas destinations, and by the end of 1934, the first regular air mail service between Australia and England had begun. That same year, Qantas Empire Airways was established as an international airline joint venture between Australia’s Qantas and Britain’s Imperial Airways.
In 1938, Qantas Empire Airways shifted its operations from Brisbane to Rose Bay. The airline chose the eastern Sydney location for its calm waters and central position. Flying boats carried more freight than land-based aircraft of the time and cost less to operate, which made them useful for mail services between Australia and other destinations.
The route travelled up Australia’s east coast to Singapore, then stopped at Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi, Alexandria, Basra and Marseilles before reaching Southampton. It linked Sydney with Britain by air, though the service cost a lot and took far longer than modern air travel.
David Crotty, former curator of the Qantas Heritage Collection, still does consulting work with Qantas. He said a return fare from Sydney to Southampton cost about £342. “In those days it was a heck of a lot of money, considering you could buy a new Chevrolet car at that time in Sydney for about £330,” he said. The flight took approximately nine and a half days. By comparison, a sea journey took five weeks.
Passenger travel and wartime service
Mail was the Rose Bay operation’s main purpose, but wealthy travellers also paid for passenger flights. Crotty described the onboard experience as unlike anything Australia had seen before. “The flying boats typically took somewhere up to 15 passengers, and there were a series of cabins. In one cabin you could smoke … there was room to wander around and the seats could be reclined back.”
The flying boats offered Australia’s first in-flight service. Qantas employed stewards who had worked on ships, and a small galley kitchen let them serve warm meals. Stewards didn’t cook onboard, Crotty said.
Passenger travel ended as World War II intensified, and the aircraft went into military service. Civil Aviation Historical Society president Phil Vabre said the flying boats moved military equipment in Darwin and operated services to Nouméa, which served as a United States base during the war. Later, they carried personnel, cargo and mail along the east coast into New Guinea to support the war.
“One by one they either were crashed, a couple were shot down … the air force had also taken some Empire flying boats early on in the piece,” Vabre said.
From water to land airports
After World War II, commercial land airports and aircraft became more widely used. Vabre said flying boats proved commercially difficult to operate because working from water posed challenges. During the war, large airports had been built around the world, and land aircraft had developed significantly.
In 1940, a Tasman Empire Airways Limited flying boat landed at Rose Bay on the first scheduled commercial passenger flight directly between Auckland and Sydney. In later years, Rose Bay flying boats also carried passengers to and from Lord Howe Island. Rose Bay Water Airport closed in 1974, the year the island’s land airport was built.
Sydney Seaplanes still operates from a base at Rose Bay, where a commemorative plaque marks the airport’s history. Sydney Airport in Mascot became the city’s primary aerodrome, and Queen Elizabeth II officially opened its international terminal in 1970. Western Sydney International Airport, in Badgerys Creek almost 60 kilometres from Mascot, is scheduled to begin commercial passenger flights from October 25.
“Rose Bay was important; it was the headquarters of our connection to Britain and the rest of the world by air,” Vabre said. He also described the site as associated with “the romance of the flying boats,” recalling aircraft that were “half boat, half airplane.”