VH-UMR  de Havilland D.H.60M Moth            (c/n  1399)

                                  

                                      Imported in November 1929 for A.A. Barlow of Brighton, Victoria, this Moth was sold in June
                                      of the following year to K.E. Wedgwood of Randwick, NSW and then almost immediately after
                                      that to the Central Australian Gold Expedition Co Ltd (CAGE), formed to search (both aerial
                                      and by land) for an illusive gold reef supposedly sighted by Howard Bell Lasseter.  VH-UMR is
                                      seen here in two images from the State Library of New South Wales collection whilst with CAGE,
                                      and named 'Golden Quest'.   The aircraft crashed 200 miles west of Alice Springs on 9 August
                                     1930 and was replaced in the expedition by another Moth, VH-UGX ('Golden Quest 2').  In the
                                      meantime the wreckage of -UMR (not too bad as can be seen in the photo below) was sold to
                                      Commercial Aviation of Parafield and repaired.   It was then sold to K. Gardiner of Melbourne
                                      (and later passed to Miss D.J. Gardiner of Baradine, NSW) before being sold in New Zealand
                                      in May 1934 as ZK-ADF.