In a scene reminiscent of a century ago, cloth bags full of stamped letters were picked up from Lismore’s oldest letterbox by a vintage car and driven to the Tiger Moth plane – ready to fly the precious cargo to Tenterfield. 

This delivery was part of Geoff Wotherspoon’s dream of creating a reenactment of the first ever air mail flight from Lismore 100 years ago. The journey took one and a half hours and involved a pilot and a Royal Mail contractor.

The mail arrives.

At the Northern Rivers Aero Club last Friday, June 26, Geoff brought history alive with the help of Bob Trevan and his car, pilot Bill Finlen and his rebuilt Tiger Moth and members of Lismore Chamber of Commerce, politicians and Lismore Council.

Even the descendants of the people originally involved in the flight were there to celebrate the occasion.

The day was the 100 year anniversary of the first ever Australian airmail delivery flight – from Lismore to Casino, then Tenterfield.

Why Lismore?

So, why, out of all the places in Australia, did the first flight happen in regional Lismore?

Geoff spent three years studying the history of the postal system development and came up with a wealth of information about why our area pioneered the opening up of communication channels.

After visiting historical society archives up and down the coast, he used the information he gathered to write a book about it - Per Aerial Mail – Australia’s first air mail flight sanctioned by and under the instruction of the postmaster-general.

The book is filled with historical photographs, official letters and excerpts from newspapers that tell a story about a generation of people determined to see an isolated Lismore be connected to the rest of Australia by an efficient mail delivery system.

Stamp love

It was actually his love of stamps that led the third generation Lismore local down the path of historical study.

A keen philatelist, Geoff is the president of Richmond River Philatelic Society and first started collecting stamps when he was a boy.

Geoff said he started in 1970 when a stamp collector visited his parents’ business to buy packets of stamps – then he joined the local stamp collecting society.

Geoff and Betty Wotherspoon in front of Lismore’s oldest remaining post box, now 130 years old.

Family business

Geoff’s great, great grandfather was Andrew Wotherspoon, who in 1886 was Lismore’s first school teacher and Lismore’s second postmaster.

“Out of Andrew’s seven sons, one was the mayor of Lismore and the others were plodders,” Geoff laughed.

“My father and brothers were into sports and business.

“My parents started Wotherspoon’s Food Service Design in Lismore. Now we have a second generation business that’s 56 years old and we design and build commercial kitchens.

“My father started by selling scales and cash registers and over time, it developed into designing kitchens.”

On top of running a family business, Geoff somehow found time to do historical research.

The mail bags are delivered to the plane.

Spark

Geoff said the spark for his book research started with a special project he was doing for the stamp club.

“I decided to do a history of Lismore’s social and regional development through looking at the post office.

“When I started the research, I found out that the air mail plane took off from a site opposite my shop on Wyrallah Road – that really sparked my interest.”

Isolation

Geoff said until 1923, Lismore was geographically isolated – with a railway line that did not connect the North Coast to Sydney due to the Clarence River getting in the way.

Mail at the time was collected from post offices and transported overland to Tenterfield on a mostly unsurfaced road – and it took time for the mail to get to where it was going, especially when it rained.

“It was tough here - we had been through the Spanish flu and were transitioning into dairying” Geoff said.

“There was often trouble shipping things out with the weather conditions.

“Just to get the mail up the hill to meet the train at Tenterfield was a mammoth task.”

“This made the people in this area incredibly enterprising and determined – we had to be because we are isolated.

Geoff Wotherspoon with Frank Roberts Junior and pilot pilot Bill Finlen.

Lobbying

“At the time, politicians were lobbying for the dividing of States into smaller regional units and trying to break the Sydney-focus of development in NSW.”

Geoff said that in 1916, it was the tenacious Lismore Mayor - Alderman - who instigated talk of a trial mail flight that would be endorsed by the Postmaster General’s Department.

“Then others, including politicians and the Lismore Chamber of Commerce, got behind the idea of an official, speedy air mail delivery service.

“Back in the day, if you paid two or three shillings you could have a letter delivered on a commercial flight.

“Some of them only carried 10 letters, and they had nothing to do with the post office.

“The shift was in creating a sanctioned mail flight as a full commercial operation, with the Postmaster General’s Department sanctioning the flight and responsible for any mail in transition.

“The pos Postmaster General’s office knew the costings and logistics and it was about 6-9 months later that the first official air mail service began.

“Lismore has the first – and it took off after that across Australia.”

Above: Pilot in 2020: Bill Finlen. Below Original pilot in 1920: Frank Roberts.

The flight, the people

On the original flight 100 years ago, pilot Frank Roberts was at the helm of his Tiger Moth plane.

For the reenactment, the Frank Roberts’ son Craig Roberts, flew up from Melbourne to see the historic flight.

He said his father died at the age of 95 and Craig arranged for him to go on a747 plane before he died.

The pilot of the plane for the reenactment was Bill Finlen –  who said the plane was an original plane that had been completely stripped down and rebuilt. It made it’s first flight six months ago.

“This has been flying since 1920,” Bill said. “It’s not easy to fly – there are no navigation aids and there will be cold noses.

“It’s a gypsy moth – it was designed before the tiger moths. People who wanted a plane with more power than a gypsy designed the tiger moth. This plane is the only one that’s been built as it was intended – not a hybrid of gypsy and tiger.”

David Cameron, the descendant of Water Lynn – the original Royal Mail contractor – was also at the reenactment.

“100 years ago, the mayor and district postmaster were also on site to see the plane off,” Geoff said.

“It’s good to have our current mayor here too, also with Matthew Wilson - the district area manger of Australia Post – as well as Kevin Hogan and Janelle Saffin who have been instrumental in getting this project off the ground.”

The plane is farewelled as it begins its journey.

The stationary, the book

To mark the occasion, Geoff had a commemorative set of envelopes with stamps created that people wrote letters on and which were loaded onto the reenactment lfight for delivery.

A set of these will be on display in Lismore Museum and in the Penny Man coin shop in Star Court Arcade.

If you are interested in buying a copy of Geoff’s book Per Aerial Mail, you can pick one up at the coin shop, or from the Wotherspoon Foodservice Design shop at 45 Wyrallah Road.