G-AUEW  Avro 504K                                  (c/n   ?)

                                    

                                        The images above and below (via the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland collection)
                                         illustrate the inauguration of aerial newspaper delivery by The Courier in January 1927.   Two air-
                                         craft were acquired for the purpose and registered to Courier Aircraft Ltd.  The machine in back
                                         is their second one, the DH9C G-AUFB.   The Brisbane Courier had been founded as far back
                                         as 1846.  In the days of the Great Depression (1933) it merged with the Daily Mail to form today's
                                         Courier-Mail.  It would appear that the grandiose scheme of aerial paper delivery did not last long
                                         since both  machines were sold in New Guinea later in 1927, G-AEUW going to Edie Creek Gold
                                         Co Ltd of Lae in October of that year.  While taking of from Lae a scant two months later (in
                                         December1927) the Avro crashed into the sea near the mouth of the Buang River and was written
                                         off.   The image at the bottom of the page, also from the John Oxley Library, is from the Harriett
                                         Brims collection and shows -UEW after having been repaired with plywood from the firm of
                                         D.G. Brims and Sons.