Reverend Harold Shepherdson
28/12/1903 - 17/12/2001
Aeroplanes
1933 Parasol hit anthill on landing – 1936 Miles Hawk 6 months crashed on Groote – 1947 Tiger Moth - Auster ….Cessna
SLSA not Austin it’s Auster J1 Autocrat UK 1940s – 3 seater & not mentioned in Half a Century
SLSA not Austin it’s Auster J1 Autocrat UK 1940s – 3 seater & not mentioned in Half a Century
Health Parasol 1932
Likely Batanga with Health Parasol - 4 blades - at Milingimbi - SLSA PRG-933-13-148
Batanga who was the first local to drive the tractor & was Bapa Sheppy's right-hand-man in thoe early days - he was Lawuk's father.
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Harold Shepherdson & Heath Parasol Milingimbi 1933
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Heath Parasol Milingimbi 1933
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Harold Shepherdson's Heath parasol in flight at Milingimbi NT 1932
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Miles Hawk VH-UGQ 1936
Ella p35 notes that the first strip was built at Gattji south of Milingimbi in 1936 but it was too short for the Miles Hawk.
SLSA PRG-933-13-613 MIles Hawk 1936
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Miles Hawk 1936 at Alice Springs p34
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"Plane flown from Adelaide-Darwin. Refuelled at Farina. Engine cut out over Adelaide on test flight the night before over Dry Creek - dropped into empty field - towed back to Parafield 1936. Cap and valve came out of petrol pump. Took part of brother's car. Possibly Reverend Griffiths, near Alice Springs." Rev. Henry Griffiths was at Katherine in the late 1930s - that looks more like Tennant Creek - on a good day.
Sheppy flew the Hawk to Darwin on his own - he stopped off at Farina 300 miles north of Adelaide & 500 miles further to Alice Springs which is half way. So presumably had to make similar stops going north which would likely have been Tennant Creek 300 miles and the Katherine another 400 leaving 200 into Darwin where Ella joined him. The M.2 did 115mph so at 100mph in an open cockpit he'd need a break pretty regularly as he'd fry. The man beside the Hawk may be the Rev. Griffiths who was based at Katherine in the late 1930s
28816_JPG_preview Miles Hawk NTL Sheppy Collection
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Miles Hawk - Groote Eylandt 1936 Half a C. p34
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Recovery of the Miles Hawk from Groote Eylandt in 1936
Sheppy spotted Lake Evella from the Hawk in 1936 - it only lasted 6 months and a decade before they could afford another plane.
Tiger Moth 1947 (-KBE or ALG)
Is this the Army Disposals one that was part owned by Harold Guy - Only a Husband
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Auster J1 Autocrat
Ella recounts an incident with the Auster in 1954 p35 - it apparently had no radio at that time.
PRG-933-13-112 Austin - after Moth Burrumarra
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PRG-933-13-113 (1)
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"My Austin at one of the outstations". This plane was secured by Harold Shepherdson after the 'Tiger Moth'. This photograph was printed in Mrs Ella Shepherdson's book, 'Half a century in Arnhem Land'. The man in the shirt and trousers may be Burrumarra. - It is an Auster - they were first built in the UK in the 1940s.
Cessna 182E
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That's Hartley Dentith
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Visiting Aircraft
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"Dr Donald Thompson with RAAF plane (flying boat) came to work as anthropologist 1935-36". The flying boat used Milingimbi as a base. This photo may be related to the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit (NTSRU) 1941-43. PRG-933-13-621 SLSA 1935 - it's a Supermarine Walrus
needs a clean
"SLSA PRG-933-13-545 Alan Marshall, Sheppy, ? Capt Slade Butterbox post WW2 de Havilland ". Not Sheppy - presumably Elcho after a good Wet - props still going - young Jack Slade - Marshall had polio age 6 - a communist sympathiser - in spats & Army issue boots c45/46 immediately post war.
'Ourselves Writ Strange' by Alan Marshall p139 - Flt-Lt Jack Slade O/C of No. 6 Communications Unit stationed in Darwin, flew an antiquated Dragon biplane on a weekly service round the northern missions during the adjustment period after the war.” They had two Dragons A34-13 & 31 - both of which served the Northern Territory handsomely through the post-war decade.
"Aerial medical moth, landed on back plain at Milingimbi, 1938" SLSA PRG-933-23-96
Southampton Flying boat Mili refuel 193? - In fact a Short Rangoon flying boats of No. 203 Squadron RAF 1934
SLSA PRG 933/13/608 - "South Hampton flying boat for Melbourne centenary 193? Called in for petrol coming and going - mail. Ella and Harold Shepherdson asked out for evening no soft ??" "During the Melbourne Centenary in 1934, four South Hampton flying boats flew to Victoria." Actually not a Supermarine Southampton - which had two engines & a high triple tail - it is one of the three Short Rangoon flying boats of No. 203 Squadron RAF which flew from Iraq to Australia in September 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations - without soft drinks, just beer on ice, so they had to make do with warm water. Perhaps a view from seaward with mission boat 'Maree' at right.