A return fare from Sydney to Southampton cost about £342 in the 1930s, nearly the price of a new Chevrolet in Sydney, which cost about £330. Rose Bay, Sydney's first international airport, opened a gateway to the world, but only the wealthy could afford to pass through it.
"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," said David Crotty, former curator of the Qantas Heritage Collection, who still does consulting work with Qantas.
The Price of the Sky
By the end of 1934, the first regular air mail service between Australia and England had begun. That same year, Australia's Qantas and Britain's Imperial Airways established Qantas Empire Airways as an international airline joint venture. In 1938, the airline moved its operations from Brisbane to Rose Bay, choosing the eastern Sydney site for its calm waters and central position.
The flying boats carried more freight than land-based aircraft of the time and cost less to operate. Rose Bay mainly served as a mail hub. Still, wealthy travellers paid for passenger seats on a route that ran up Australia's east coast to Singapore, then through Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi, Alexandria, Basra and Marseilles before reaching Southampton.
The trip took about nine and a half days. By sea, it took five weeks.
"It was quite luxurious, it was unlike anything Australia had seen before," Crotty said. "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." It was Australia's first in-flight service. Qantas hired stewards who had worked on ships. They didn't cook onboard, but a small galley kitchen let them serve warm meals.
War and a Changing Industry
Passenger travel ended as World War II intensified, and the military put the flying boats to work. Civil Aviation Historical Society president Phil Vabre said they moved military equipment in Darwin and ran services to Nouméa, which served as a United States base during the war.
"Later on they were largely employed up and down the east coast ferrying personnel, cargo and mail up into New Guinea in support of the war," Vabre said. "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."
After the war, commercial land airports and aircraft spread. Vabre said flying boats were 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.
The first scheduled commercial passenger flight directly between Auckland and Sydney landed at Rose Bay in 1940, 86 years ago. In later years, Rose Bay flying boats carried passengers to and from Lord Howe Island until the island's land airport opened in 1974, 52 years ago. Rose Bay Water Airport closed that year.
From Rose Bay to Badgerys Creek
Sydney Seaplanes still operates from a base at Rose Bay, where a commemorative plaque marks the airport's history. Sydney Airport at Mascot became the city's primary aerodrome. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened its international terminal in 1970, 56 years ago. Western Sydney International Airport, at 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. "Rose Bay is probably associated with the romance of the flying boats. There's just something about those graceful, old aircraft that are half boat, half airplane."
Why This Matters: The Rose Bay story is usually told as nostalgia, and the facts support that. But they also show who got to fly. When the service began 92 years ago, the fare put a seat out of reach for most households, while the mail it carried served the wider public. Seen through the question of access, this history shows how a new form of transport can begin as a privilege of the wealthy before wider use follows. It also shows how closely the industry's shape depended on wartime public needs, from military logistics to the airports built during the conflict. As Western Sydney International Airport prepares to open almost 60 kilometres from Mascot, the earlier history gives the public a reference point for who benefits from new aviation infrastructure, and who gets to use it.