Guide to the Papers of Austin Byrne, 1932-1993

Summary

Collection number:

MS 3736

Creator:

Austin Byrne

Extent:

3.41 metres and (14 ms boxes + 2 large folio boxes + 1 elephant folio + 3 packets + 4 sound/av carriers)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Austin Byrne, National Library of Australia, MS 3736, [series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan

Background

Content Summary:

Most of the Byrne Papers relate to Byrne's Southern Cross Memorial which he commenced in 1932 and his endeavours to have it accepted by the Australian Government and appropriately housed. The Memorial was accepted as a gift by the Government in 1970 and is presently held by the National Museum of Australia. Byrne donated a number of papers to the National Museum including original photographs and newspaper clippings relating to the aviation exploits of Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm.

The material included in the collection includes: correspondence; diaries, photographs, newspaper clippings, printers blocks and outline/drafts of items which he created as part of the Southern Cross Memorial; scrap books; record disks; audio tapes and some display items.

Biographical Note:

Austin Byrne was born on 25 February 1902 at Wickham in New South Wales and grew up in the small town of Illabo. He was one of seven children. His father an engine driver died when he was quite young. In 1910 Austin was sent, along with another of the children, to St Michaels orphanage at Baulkham Hills as his mother was unable to properly care for all the children. He returned to the family some time later. He left school at the age of 12 and commenced his first job at Cohen and Co store at Harden. In 1917 he started work with the New South Wales Railways workshops where he worked for the next 23 years.

He became very interested in the pioneering long distance flights and was so enthusiastic about the proposed Pacific flight of Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm that he imported a radio set with low wave attachment and learnt morse code so that he could pick up the wireless of the Southern Cross. Byrne maintained a belief throughout his life that this flight was the greatest of all pioneering flights.

In 1932 he met Charles Kingsford Smith and asked him for the blue prints of the Southern Cross to enable him to construct a model of the aircraft. He started constructing his model out of wood but soon decided that metal would be a better medium. Before Smith went to England he saw the model and claimed it as his own. Byrne decided to make a marble pedestal for the model after visiting the technological museum. This took some 10 to 12 months. Upon its completion he was inspired to make a globe which would show all the pioneering flights of the Southern Cross and decided to use aluminium for its construction. The globe took him some 3 years to complete. His next step was to write a history of the flights of the Southern Cross and to build a shrine to contain it. In order to get enough money with which to purchase the marble for the shrine he designed a reading lamp showing the Pacific and Atlantic flights of the Southern Cross of which he sold twelve. Having obtained a letter of introduction from Sir Hubert Wilkins he wrote to all the important aviators asking them to write a tribute to Kingsford Smith and Ulm and these he included in a book which he made of metal.

In 1938 he exhibited his work at the Royal Easter show and again in 1939 in addition to the Bathurst and Wollongong Shows. He was approached at this time by a representative of the New Zealand Government who proposed that he take his work to New Zealand. Disappointed by a lack of responsiveness to his work in Australia he accepted the offer and travelled to New Zealand in 1941 where his work was displayed in the Houses of Parliament in Wellington. It was exhibited for three weeks and raised some £10000 for a spitfire fund. The New Zealand Government purchased a return ticket for Byrne to travel to the United States. Byrne remained in the United States until 1946.

Upon his arrival he was charged a considerable sum in excess duty for his memorial. Unable to pay this amount he worked as a kitchen hand in order to earn enough money to pay off the debt. His plight aroused some interest amongst the American media. When finally his memorial was released by customs after the excess was reduced to $200 American and finally paid he took it to numerous schools where he gave lectures to the children about the Southern Cross and the aviation exploits of Kingsford Smith and Ulm and encouraged them to buy War stamps and bonds to help the War effort. He claimed to have raised 4 million dollars for the American War effort by this means.

In 1946 Byrne returned to Australia. Byrne offered his Memorial to the Australian Government for £3500 but after some consideration his offer was rejected. Between 1949 and 1956 he added to his memorial creating three further globes and inspired by the news of the Olympic Games to be held in Melbourne, an Olympic Torch.

Byrne believed that the Australian Government had not done enough to express Australia's gratitude to those in the United States and the Netherlands who had assisted and contributed to the success of the flight of the Southern Cross across the Pacific.

In 1958 he travelled to Amsterdam where his work was exhibited at the Schiphol Airport. Proceeds of the exhibition went to the Princess Beatrix Polio fund.

In 1964 he exhibited his work in Bathurst and in 1968 to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Pacific flight his work was displayed in Grace Brothers and David Jones. In the latter half of 1968 Byrne once again offered his collection to the Australian Government, this time as a gift.

In 1967 he retired.

In 1970 after much lobbying Byrne's memorial was accepted by the Commonwealth Government. It was displayed in Parliament House for a short period but then much to Byrne's disappointment placed in storage.

In 1974 Byrne travelled to Canberra to add to the collection mosaics, a completed tribute to the people of the Netherlands and further completed sections of the Southern Cross Memorial. Byrne intended to travel to Amsterdam in 1975 the 700th Anniversary of the City of Amsterdam with plaques he intended to present to the National Archives, the city of Amsterdam and the Aviation Museum. However he became ill and requested a friend to attend in his stead.

In 1979 Byrne travelled to Amsterdam with the intent of paying homage to Michelangelo whom he considered to be his greatest inspiration throughout his life. In August 1979 he sought permission from the Government to complete his Pacific and Atlantic Logs.

In 1980 after the announcement that the Southern Cross Museum Trust intended to commission the building of a flying replica of the Southern Cross Byrne decided that he would exhibit his work in order to raise money to assist the Museum Trust. With this in mind he sought the release of his memorial from storage in Canberra. Byrne's enthusiasm was particularly aroused by the Trust's declaration that it anticipated that the Southern Cross replica would be the beginning of a larger project being the establishment of a National Aviation Museum. His memorial was subsequently displayed in the hangar at Parafield.

In 1981 Byrne expressed his wish to establish a Great National Project whereby school children would attend lectures about Kingsford Smith and Ulm and be encouraged to purchase badges for 50 cents each, the proceeds to assist the completion of the Southern Cross replica. He also displayed additional work that he had completed after 1970 at the Myer Emporium in Penrith Plaza to raise funds. He later exhibited at the Blaxland Galleries.

Byrne died in June 1993. He was 93 years of age.

Provenance:

The first instalment of the Byrne Papers was presented to the Library by Austin Byrne in 1971. Further instalments were received in 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981 1983 and 1987. The remainder of the Byrne Papers were bequeathed to the Library pursuant to Mr Byrne's will and were collected after his death in 1993.

Arrangement:

The material obtained upon Byrne's death was for the most part in disarray. Byrne had reused and labelled manilla folders several times and their contents generally bore little connection to the folder headings. However, where some nexus could be discerned between the folder headings and contents and the contents had a degree of coherence, these have been left intact. Those which have been left intact are noted in the series descriptions. However, for the most part the arrangement of the collection is one devised by the staff of the Manuscripts Section.

Related

Related Documentation:

1. Supplementary finding aid (Type: pdf, Size: 190.97 KB)

   Appendix I - Index to Photographs

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn767680).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Austin Byrne, National Library of Australia, MS 3736, [series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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