130 years-ago an experiment on a New South Wales beach led to a major breakthrough in aviation that changed the course of history. Lawrence Hargrave’s historic flight in his rudimentary flying machine inspired his peers and has been celebrated on his home beach.
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00:00Today is a celebration of the life of Lawrence Hargrave, who on the 12th of November, 1894,
00:08climbed into the seat of a flying machine that he'd built and was lifted almost 5 metres
00:13into the sky.
00:14Now, as you can see here, today we're being treated to what essentially happened 130 years
00:19ago, which was box kites of a similar design to this, climbed into the sky with Lawrence
00:26Hargrave himself attached to the bottom of these kites.
00:30Now, because we don't quite have enough wind, we're only seeing two kites in the air.
00:34Lawrence Hargrave's invention was four kites.
00:37So it was a historical moment in the history of aviation engineering, and it set the template
00:43for future pioneers, including the Wright brothers, to invent the first aeroplanes.
00:48That happened less than 10 years after Lawrence Hargrave's discovery.
00:52Now today, this is among the commemorations that we're seeing.
00:56The Lawrence Hargrave Society is remembering Lawrence Hargrave as a pioneer, an Australian
01:01pioneer who changed the course of Australian history.
01:04We sent a lot of stuff to the Wright brothers over in America, and they used it, and I think
01:09they even patented some of his ideas, because Hargrave never patented anything.
01:13It was for the world to use.
01:15The crowd gathered here at Stanwell Park, which includes groups of school children,
01:19who've been treated to a visit from the man himself.
01:23This was, you know, totally foreign and untried.
01:29So I mean, you'd heard the Icarus things and the stories about, you know, some of the gods
01:34and people, oh, well, Leonardo.
01:38So I guess he's trying to follow in that sort of vein.
01:42Big risk, a lot of reward, and for the betterment of humanity.
01:47The local historical aircraft association, HAAS, has also organised a flyover of three
01:52historic aircraft, each of which benefited from the innovations of Lawrence Hargrave
01:58more than 100 years ago.