HURLEY’S FLIGHT

Hokitika Guardian, 5 November 1928, Page 5

HURLEY’S FLIGHT

(Australian Press Association)

AYYNDHAM, Nov. 4

Captain Hurley has inspected the engine of his plane, the Spirit of Australia. He Logins the ocean flight to the East Indies at midnight to-night. All is well with the crew.

Captain Hurley’s narrative of the flight across the centre of Australia includes the following passage: “It has ever been my ambition to see and know something of the hidden heart of Australia. Xow that I have seen a track eighty miles wide on either side of our 2.21 ?0 mile course, I honestly say that I am bitterly disappointed. The major portion is utterly desolate, arid, and dead. It is such as to fill one with sadness. Only once before have I seen more dreary plains. They were in the tormented landscapes of a hideous nightmare.”

START DELAYED. SYDNEY, Nov. 5. Hurley’s departure from AYyndham for Andir last night was postponed owingto an unexpected storm. He starts at midnight to-night if the weather is favourable.

ITCH LEY STABTS. SYDNEY, November 5. Hurley left Wyndham at 10.50 oilierwise 3.11 Sydney time, and headed for Cape Londonderry on the extreme north-west coast of Australia at a speed of ninety miles hourly. He will set a course for Koepang and in the event of head winds, a landing will be effected at Sourahaya. Hurley does not intend to risk landing on an unknown inland aerodrome surrounded by high mountains in the dark. The machine carries three hundred gallons of petrol, sufficient for twenty-four hours.