LANDING OF AIR LINER

Evening Star, Issue 21581, 29 November 1933, Page 5

LANDING OF AIR LINER

BECOMES NATIVE LEGEND ASTRCA AT lATNUMT ISLAND When, not long ago, the Imperial Airways air. liner Astraea ■ was making a survey flight along eastern sections of the 10,000 miles air-mail, route from England to Australia, a descent was made for fuel on Bathurst Island, a lonely spot off the north-west..coast of Australia. , ■ The natives of the island were spellbound when they saw the great tourengined monoplane come gliding down, and their amazement was equally great when, after taking on petrol, , the airliner taxied along close to them and, ascending again swiftly, disappeared in the direction of Port Darwin, on the Australian coast. Actually, for some time after Astraea had alighted the natives were,so mystified that they did not'care'to approach the machine, , but presently their king drew near enoiign to catch sight of the lloyal mail emblem, wiith its crown, on the air-liner’s side. Whereupon he gave a cry of delight, and, pointing to this crown, declared that he now realised that the aircraft had come from the King of England, and that he, as the King of Bathurst, must be the only one to, approach the machine, it being “ taboo ” for anyone else to ,go near it. At which his followers retreated hastily, while he himself, evidently feeling that the .occasion required some special act of recognition on his part, proceeded with his, own hands—and much to the astonishment of the air-liner’s crew—to sweep and clean out the interior of the machine. When the time came for Astraea to depart he refused to accept any gift or token from' the air-liner’s crew, but, drawing himself up in truly regal fashion, gave them a message as from himself to the King of England; this being to the effect that, as from one king to another, he would not be at ail averse to receiving a gift of flour to replenish the stock on the island. Ever since this thrilling event in their otherwise uneventful lives, the natives of Bathurst who actually saw the airliner descend have been busy telling the story to those of their compatriots who missed the astonishing sight. Throngs of natives visit the landing ground, where the wheel marks of the air-liner are still visible, and the tale'of this wonderful visit loses nothing in'its constant telling. In fact, it has grown already into one of the island legends, songs being composed and. sung about! it, and the crew of the air-liner assuming the role almost of gods. The little native boys, too, have now found a new amusement, spending .quite a lot of their time in making' wonderfully accurate mud models of Astraea, complete with wheels and propellers, the latter being made of small strips of cocoanut palm. One young enthusiast, it appears, equipped his model with five propellers, whereupon a member of tlie Catholic Mission on the island reminded him that Astraea only has four.

Nothing abashed, the .youngster replied Promptly ; “ Oh, dis onequickfel-

lar. I’m much better. Catch ’em Dan win. proper." .. ' . The astonishment caused by the. arrw> val of Astraea at Bathurst lends poinfj to a story which is told concerning %■* native who, coming to an aerodrome in> the jungle and never having seen, a fly*| ing machine before, stood in amase. meat, hardly believing his eyes, when' one of the big aircraft of the Imperial Airways Cairo-Cape Town route. circled overhead just before landing. “ Would you like to be up there in that great bird?” an official asked. , “ No," answered the ■ “ but what I would like is a sitting of its eggi .to take back with me to my village.”^