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Remote Location. Travel always a Challenge
In the 1930s, in the centre of the continent, the small 600 person town of Alice Springs’ only formal link to the outside world was the weekly “Ghan” train service. From there, getting from one remote settlement to another could take days or weeks by road (assuming there was a road) or camel train. Eddie (EJ) Connellan, a determined bush pilot entrepreneur, had a solution – a vision to connect the outback by air.
Growing up in Melbourne with a passion for flying, Connellan was fascinated by the possibilities flight offered to remote Australia. Beginning with a modest operation based in Alice Springs, he established what became Connellan Airways and later Connair.
The Airstrip Challenge
But initially there were no airstrips in most areas he needed to fly, so Eddie developed his own. Not with the bulldozers, graders, or surveying teams of today but instead, used his trusty 1920 “Alpine Eagle” Rolls‑Royce Silver Ghost. Converted to a utility and with sturdier tyres and other modifications she was tough enough for all that the Outback could throw at her.
The idea was simple. His team would drive the Rolls-Royce across the would-be airstrip at speed. If it didn’t bounce violently or hit obstacles, the ground was smooth enough for his early fleet of light aircraft to land. If not, they would tie a log to the front and use the vehicle a bulldozer. They then chained either an angled piece of railway rail or wagon wheels behind, and the Rolls would drive back and forth, knocking down termite mounds and clearing bushes.
Once the surface felt right, Connellan would test the several hundred-metre-long strips by landing an aircraft. Strips which became part of his growing airline network covering the Northern Territory and remote parts of Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia.
The Rolls-Royce method might sound unconventional, but it worked surprisingly well. It allowed Connellan to establish dozens of bush airstrips quickly and cheaply, helping to break the outback’s ‘tyranny of distance’. Many of these simple strips were later developed into permanent airfields used by modern regional airlines.
Thirty Years of Service
With considerable daring, limited resources and plenty of determination, Eddie used practical, inventive solutions to build a vital aviation network across much of remote Australia. Sometimes using little more than a good car, a keen eye, and a stretch of red dirt.
An airline which grew to service a vast proportion of the continent, servicing some hundred towns, cities, hamlets, cattle stations, mining ventures and Aboriginal communities. Claimed by some as the ‘world’s biggest little airline’.
The Silver Ghost Live On
For many years the restored Silver Ghost was put on display at the Alice Springs Airport. Later moved to the Central Australian Aviation Museum in Alice Springs, it joins their wide collection of aircraft and other exhibits displaying the early aviation history of the region, including much about Eddie Connellan, Connellan Airlines and Connair.
Part of a Story
Inspired by Connellan Airlines and Connair, the fictitious airline Jennair plays a key role in the action-adventure saga Outback Danger, where a flying doctor nurse, a mixed blood policeman and a supremacist zealot find the remote town of Alice Springs not the sleepy place expected. A story where intrigue, revenge and passion erupt in the rugged expanses of Australia’s Red Centre.
A novel in William Sims’ Outback Adventures series.
THE CAR THAT HELPED BUILD AN AIRLINE