Qantas First Overseas Passenger Flight

Avro 504K - Replica

Qantas first overseas passenger flight took place on 17 April 1935 and marked the start of an illustrious journey that has lasted right up till today.

The airline was formed and commenced operations in December 1934 flying between Brisbane and Darwin using obsolescent DH.50 and de Havilland DH.61 biplanes.

Regular international flight commenced in May 1935, when the service from Darwin was extended to Singapore using newer de Havilland DH.86s.

Imperial Airways operated the rest of the service through to London. In July 1938 this operation was replaced by a thrice weekly flying boat service using Shorts S.23 Empire flying boats.

The Sydney to Southampton service took nine days, with passengers staying in hotels overnight. For the single year of peace that the service operated, it was profitable and 94% of services were on time.

The airline's first aircraft was an Avro 504K (pictured above) purchased for �1425. It had a cruising speed of 105 kilometres per hour (65 mph) and carried one pilot and two passengers.

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We Didn't Own an iPad 

No matter this Golden Oldie is sentimental about the 70's and 80', YouTube mastery is still evident.

Suggesting that' despite the old saying' you can still teach and old dog new tricks - Who says Golden Oldies are not adaptable?

Of course Golden Oldies originally referred to music from the 1950's and 60's, but now we are in age iPad they have relocated to the 1970's and 80's and are now sometimes titled Classic Hits.

For those who need a memory jolt the 1970's saw the rise of disco, which became one of the biggest genres of the decade, especially towards the end of the decade, but it also included funk, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, soul and hard, aggressive rock.

The 1980s saw the emergence of pop, dance music, new wave, soft rock and adult contemporary. It is commonly associated with the usage of synthesizers and other electronic genres featuring non-traditional instruments.

Seemed state of the art for the time - seems cause for nostalgia now.

Want to dip a toe in some old 70's and 80's music? Click Here

If you think you are familiar with the Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy here is something to make you prick up your ears and listen again.
 

This video clip shows what it sounds like when all the instruments are made of glass; and when the whole piece is played by just two people, who spend all their time standing up.
 

The piece is played by GlassDuo on a glass harp - a very rare and extraordinary instrument.
 

It's the only glass music group in Poland, one of a very few professional ensembles in the world. The Musicians play in duo and with various chamber ensembles and even symphony orchestras.
 

GlassDuo's glass harp is the largest professional glass harp in the world and is not made up of glasses containing water, but very high quality glasses of differing sizes.
 

To visit Paris is to relive a memory, a previous visit not required.

There is an instant nostalgia you feel as a couple in Paris. The words from Casablanca, "We will always have Paris," seem to have been written for you alone.

The feeling builds as you stroll up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe.

The avenue seems endless; the Arc looms in a blue haze, seeming always in the far distance. You move as if in slow-motion, the focus of some hidden camera, other strollers just figures in a blurred background.

Paris seemed our private "parc"

For us alone its charm beguiled

For us the Champs stretched to the Arc

For us the Mona Lisa smiled

With thanks to Robert Brault

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