VH-ABE (1)   Short S.23 "C" Class Empire Flying Boat  (c/n S.851)

                        

                            In the early days of the Empire route to England, a stop was made on the Brisbane River, (adjacent
                            to what later became the Brisbane Airport at Eagle Farm) before continuing on to the flying boat base
                            in Sydney at Rose Bay.   For a full story of the history of this terminal go to
                                                                     
                                                       http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Rose%20Bay%20pre%20war%202.htm
                              
                           At first I thought the above photograph (courtesy of Short Bros. & Harland Ltd) was perhaps taken
                           at Brisbane, but in reality I suspect that it was probably taken on the Medway River in the U.K. adjacent
                           to Short's plant. which in those days was in Rochester, Kent.    On 11 December 1938 'Coorong' was
                           blown onto the rocks at Darwin during a storm.  The image below, from the John Oxley Library, State
                           Library of Queensland collection. shows the ugly result.    She was repaired by Christmas Day 1938
                           however, and a year later repatriated back to the U.K. as her original G-AEUI.   As such the grand
                           old lady was broken up in 1947.      For a list of QANTAS' other S.23s go to VH-ABC.