One of the plaques at Maylands Aerodrome Park honours ‘Sir Norman Brearley – Pioneer Airline operator’.

Sir Norman Brearley established West Australian Airways (WAA), the first Commercial Airline in Australia (before QANTAS). It operated twice weekly between Geraldton and Derby.

Our Frank Colquhoun collection includes:

  • Frank Colquhoun Album page 2. 1921 G-AUDK photographed from G-AUDJ (L.E. Taplin) which in company of third Bristol with N. Brearley (pilot) were initial outward flight from Perth by air mail contract to Fed. Govt. G-AUDI ill-fated to crash at Murchison House Station next day with loss of lives of the pilot and mechanic, 5 Dec 1921
  • MHS/FC 059. A 1927 photograph. Major Norman Brearley bought this speedboat and the Airline staff re-engined it with a 240hp Puma aircraft engine. Dogged by mechanical problems, it won the only race it ever finished, crewed by the Colquhoun brothers.
  • FC 117. A 1925 photograph of  Maylands. A Bristol Tourer and Norman Brearley’s Avro 504J stand outside the original West Australian Airways Limited hangar. That hangar had been transferred from lower Hill Street, opposite The Esplanade in Perth. This image also appears on page 11 of Frank Colquhoun’s 2001 book Cockpit and Spanner.
    This image also appears on page 11 of Frank Colquhoun’s 2001 book ‘Cockpit and Spanner
  • MHS/FC 181. A 1928 photograph of the visit of Charles Kingsford Smith and his ‘Southern Cross’ to Maylands Airfield. (Groundsman Fred Searle in shirt, Major Brearley, ‘Smithy’ with bare head.) The ANEC is somewhat dwarfed by the FVII Fokker. This image also appears on page 13 of Frank Colquhoun’s 2001 book Cockpit and Spanner
  • FC 253.  1933 photographs  in Western Australia. DH50 aircraft VH-UEM with a group involved with the ‘Lasseter’ search and its aftermath. (L-R). K. Monson (West Australian Newspapers), engineer Fred Sexton, engineer Frank Colquhoun, pilot Harry Baker, Mr Baker (uncle of Harry), Norman Brearley (WAA Managing director). This image also appears on page 81 of Frank Colquhoun’s 2001 book Cockpit and Spanner.
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