Harry George Hawker was born on 22 January 1889 at South Brighton, Melbourne. He was the son of George Hawker, blacksmith, and Mary Ann Hawker, née Anderson, both Victorian-born. He attended schools at Moorabbin, East Malvern, St Kilda and Prahran. In 1901, he left school at the age of 12 and became a trainee mechanic at the Melbourne branch of Hall & Warden bicycle depot. In 1905 he joined the Tarrant Motor and Engineering Co. as a qualified mechanic and, in about 1907 he set up his own workshop at Caramut, western Victoria. In 1911 he left for England with the intention of becoming an aviator. In June 1912, he was employed by Sopwith Aviation Co. Ltd and worked on the Sopwith-Wright biplane. He enrolled in a flying school where he was personally taught by Sir Thomas Sopwith, and obtained his licence a few months later. He went on to become a test pilot, a renowned aviator who won many competitions, and a designer who improved aircraft safety and performance. He was killed while flying a French Goshawk on a trial run near Hendon, England, on 12 July 1921. Colour photograph unmountedOn the plaque: Harry Hawker 1889-1921 Aviator & Aircraft Designer lived here 1900-1911. Plaque unveiled for City of St Kilda by Weston Bate 12 February 1989st kilda, plaques, harry hawker, hg hawker, gourlay street

The Kyeema airline crash took place on 25 October 1938 when the Australian National Airways Douglas DC-2 Kyeema, tail number VH-UYC, flying from Adelaide to Melbourne, commenced final approach to Essendon Airport through heavy fog and crashed into the western slopes of Mount Dandenong, killing all 18 on board instantly. There is strong evidence that the pilots were becoming unsure of their position. According to Macarthur Job's book, Disaster in the Dandenongs, the radio operator had requested the controller at Essendon give them a radio bearing. Essendon had acknowledged and told them to leave their transmitter on, but the signal stopped and no further contact was made. It is thought that this is the moment that Kyeema hit the mountain. There were 18 people on board the DC-2: 14 passengers, the captain, the first officer, an air hostess, and a cadet pilot who operated the radio during the flight. The victims were :— THE CREW. CAPTAIN A. C. D. WEBB, 32, pilot, married, of Essendon, Victoria. JUNIOR CAPTAIN ALAN J. STEEN, 25, pilot, married, of Essendon North, Victoria. ELVA JONES, 27, air hostess, single, of Toorak, Victoria. PHILIP D. PRING, about 20, cadet pilot attached to Australian National Airways' Aeronautics School, Sydney. PASSENGERS. CHARLES ALLAN SEYMOUR HAWKER, M.P., 44, single, of Adelaide. LEONARD SYDNEY ABRAHAMS, K.C., 51, married, barrister, of Sydney. SIDNEY HILL SMITH, 41, married, managing director of S. Smith and Son, of Yalumba, South Australia. ALFRED CECIL GAIN, 42, married, barrister, of Sydney. GORDON H. GODDARD, 30, single, accountant, of North Sydney. LANCELOT WILLIAM SHIRLEY, 27, single, solicitor, of Manly. JAMES IAN MASSIE, 25, single, solicitor, of Sydney. VAUGHAN PATE, 42, refrigeration cabinet manufacturer, married, of Unley, South Australia. THOMAS M. HARDY, 48, married, head of the firm of Thomas Hardy and Sons, vignerons, of Seacliff, South Australia. GEORGE WILLIAM LING, 72, of Kingswood, South Australia, former building inspector of the Municipal Tramways Trust, Adelaide. LOUIS HUGO GRAMP, 43, married, managing director of G. Gramp and Sons, Ltd., vignerons, Rowlands (sic) Flat, South Australia. Mrs. ELIZABETH MARY SCHRADER, 69, widow, of Adelaide. Mr. and Mrs. HANS L. GLOE, of Perth.Small section of the Kyeema DC-2 fuselage made up of 5 pieces of piece of twisted and torn aluminium riveted together. Marking can be seen in red but is indistinct. Aluminium has gold, silver and green colouring.kyeema, a webb, j steen, elva jones, philip pring, charles hawker, leonard abrahams, sidney hill smith, alfred gain, gordon goddard, lancelot shirley, james massie, vaughan pate, thomas hardy, george ling, hugo gramp, elizabeth schrader, mr hans gloe, mrs gloe

The interview is one of a series recorded in 2013-2014 to document memories and experiences of the Williamstown Botanic GardensA primary source of information on memories of the Gardens and witness to changes in the Gardens over those years. CD and transcript of interview with Shelley Wood. Shelley was born in Williamstown, as was her mother Margaret McLean. Shelley recalls her mother telling her about spending many hours in the Gardens when she was young with her friend Chic, who was the daughter of the Curator Ernie Anderson. Shelley, who was the first female gardener appointed in the western region, served her apprenticeship at Gardens and is currently the Curator. shelley wood, margaret mclean, tom wood, chic anderson, ernie anderson, 1979, apprentice, fish pond, pinetum, barry heath, golden elm, palms, brian turner, dean splatt, robert anderson, 1988, bicentennial funding, 1987, angela altair, helen page, mary klestadt, mike hirst, john hawker, landscape advisory group, williamstown technical school, gates, buffalo lawn, ian brown, storytime, adam lindsay gordon, statue, archie matthews, aviary, williamstown botanic gardens, hobsons bay city council