Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate the people of my home town of Cloncurry and all the descendants of Qantas's founders for making this month's centenary of the first Qantas flight so remarkable and memorable.

Country Australia is responsible for so many great ideas and inventions, and Qantas is one of them. Qantas's story began in 1919 with a grazier, Fergus McMaster; his broken-down car in the bed of the Cloncurry River; and a veteran World War I pilot, Paul McGinness, who stopped to help. You can just imagine how the conversation went, Madam Acting Deputy President: McMaster perhaps saying, 'Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to drive cars so far over such rough country out here? I think an air taxi service would be ideal,' and McGinness perhaps saying, 'When I was flying in the war, we could cover distances the poor blokes on the ground could only dream of.'

From this chance meeting, Qantas was born, with first passenger Alexander Kennedy, when it flew its first commercial flight in November 1922. From Qantas came the Royal Flying Doctor Service and a partnership with Australia Post, and all are still going strong today. I was incredibly honoured to be invited to the centenary this month, a celebration of an idea and of the Anzac spirit that was born in a town that has given Australia so many great institutions. I've mentioned the flying doctors, but Cloncurry was also the first Queensland site for School of the Air, an organisation I'm proud to have been educated by.

I want to acknowledge Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell, all the councillors and all the council staff, who did a terrific job with the centenary. It is important that we celebrate our heritage, and Qantas is an important part of that. Cloncurry and many other places in remote Australia have always been home to dynamic, hardworking families. I pay tribute to them, both those in the past and those who are still there, for their pride in their towns and their willingness to carry on the spirit of positivity and determination embodied so admirably by the Qantas founders.