Af; DELI___ t_
JJ) AIUSTRALIA
FOR MEDIA SUNDAY, 6 JUNE 1982
OPENING OF CONNELLAN AIRPORT
It really is I think a very great occasion and there could not
be a more f itting way to honour somebody who has done a great
deal for the Northern Territory and a great deal for Australia
over most of his lifetime. Eddie Connellan is probably
best known obviously for his contribution to aviation in the
Northern Territory. Maybe not so many people know that he
has also been in the forefront of pastoral activities,
water conservation and disease control in:-the Territory, always
looking to doing things better than they were done in the past,
and contributing not only to his own operation, to the broader
knowledge of how to do things in this part of the world.
Tamie and I are delighted that it has been possible to be
here and to come here on this occasion and particularly so
because the Airport has been named in a way that honours the
work that Eddie Connellan has done. through the decades.
It was the relationship between Eddie Connellan and another
great Australian going back to the pre-war years that as I
understand itILle ad to it all. I understand that John McEwan
in 1938 or 1939 said to Eddie on one occasion why don't you
establish an airline and provide some services to people that might
otherwise have them. If my researchers are correct,
that is where a large part of it began. Air services were
established, airports developed, places for airfields picked
out and at the peak the service went to about 130 or more
locations right around the Northern Territory.
It is worth roting that in the earlier years the mail carried
was a much larger part, much heavier in weight than freight.
I was trying to point out that the need for communications
between people was obviously very great because the weight of
mail carried in the early days was greater than the freight
carried. That obviously tells its own story and the need
for communications between people who lived in the QMerritory
and who had their links and their families maybe outside
the Territory. o. ./ 2
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I think again you would all know that now we are getting to the
stage where we are seeking to establish a communication system
where all people in Australia will have the same kind of
communication as those who live in Melbourne or Sydney and
when the new satellite is established we believe that that
will be so. That is the mark 6f time and the changes in
technology that make that kind of thing possible. The
original serviLces provided by Eddie Connellan and his team
provided something that was much needed in many remote parts
of the Northern Territory.
This cairn behind me is I understand it, the propellor from
the first de Havilland toilfly to Ayers Rock. That a gain
has its own story to tell in terms of aviation and in terms
of the history of the Northern Territory.
Paul Everinghamn with the kind of vision that he has brought to
the Government of the Northern Territory since independence
is obviously banking on a growth in tourism. He has been
prepared to back his belief with dollars and the Northern
Territory Government is spending large sums in helping to
promote tourism and this I~ s obviously a large part of it
right here and the Yulara Village that you are going to
be visiting a little later on this morning. The number
of people coming to the Territory, the dollars they are
spending-is growing as each year passes. A large part of
them come fromr overseas and with the many unique features
of the Northern Territory in Ayers Rock, the Olgas, Kakadu
National Park, there are sites of great and enormous value
to all Territorians and indeed to people wherever they may
be. It will be one of the vital and growing industries
in the Northern Territory, I have not the slightest doubt
at all.
In passing, I think it is worth making the point that the kind
of adavances that have occurred in the Territory over the
last four years at the next election I am going to try
and get Paul to give me a plug too just would not have come
if an administration had remained centred on Canberra. You
need people with a faith and belief in their own part of the
world,-prepared to go out and back that with their time and
with energy and with their vision. That is very much
what has happened. You have only got to look i at the changes
around Alice Springs, the changes across the Territory since
independence, since self-government to know that there.* is., a
new life, a new hope and a new faith compared to the days,
when however well they did it, Ministers and public servants
from Canberra seemed to determine everything that happened
in the Territory.
If the Federal Government has done anything for the Northern
Territory, the most important thing it has done, has been
to say well you look after your own affairs, ' we will work in
partnership and do what we can to help, but we believe you can
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do much better because it is your futures that you are governingi,
your futures that you are determining. We believe that you
can do much better than we ever could. In a sense the
unleashing of the talents and the initiative of the Territorians
in terms of their own government has been an enormous advance
for the Territory.
Eddie I would like to thank you for everything that you have
done for aviation in the Northern Territory. It has been
an enormous contribution and indelibly written in the
history of the Territory and the histgry of aviation in
Austi~ alia. There are some parts of that history that might
not be all that is in the records of the Department of Civil
Aviation. I have here an authentic minute which was signed
on 4 December 1957 by Shane Paltridge and Don Anderson and
one or two others. Some parts of it said well I have never
tried to put a swifty over the Department of Civil Aviation
and Eddie has signed it, that's right at the bottom and
witnessed by a number of people. I guess it is true. The
word try is the word that was wrong because whatever Eddie
did, he did not just try to do, he succeeded in doing and
I think he was probably ahead of the Departmen't of Civil
Aviation at every step of the way. He might never have
tried, but that has got an implication of failure and Eddie
never failed.
There was anc-ther minute involving the late George Taylor
who many people here would remember, with his association
with Eddie and whatever and there was a meeting discussing
Connellan Airways and what was going to happen in the
future. George Taylor thought he would get it off to
a bright start by saying, I hope those who don't like me
using the language, will forgive me, but this is in the
record so I have got to be accurate, aren't you the fat
little bugger I scrubbed at Pearce a fews years ago?
That happened. to be Shane Paltridge who was failed 15 years
before by George Taylor of Pearce Elementary Flying
School. How Shane Paltridge ever wanted to do anything
for Connella. Airways after that, I just don't know. That
might be just one more area where Eddie stayed one or
two steps ahetad of the ministers and the departments and
no matter howr hard the ministers and departments, tried, ; I am surce
they were never able to catch up.
As a result cof it all, and as a small part of the total
fabric, there is this great airport, great terminal building
which is going to stand as a permanent and fitting reminder
of the work that Eddie Connellan has done for the Northern
Territory. I have very grreat pleasure indeed in declaring Connellan Airport
of ficially open.
I am sorry I forgot to say something that I should have.
Some time ago, always looking to the future and always looking
to the need to keep adequate services. to the remoter areas that.
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could not necessarily afford to do so by themselves. Eddie
Connellan approached the Federal Govnernment to see if we
would give tax deductibility to a special airways trust that
would help to provide and support services to some of the
remoter parts of the Territory which might not otherwise
be able to sustain services under normal commercial conditions.
We have provided tax deductibility for that trust. I don't
know if Eddie has got somebody around here with a receipt.
book, but donations are tax deductible. I believe again
it shows the kind of concern that Eddie has for providing
services to p1eople in the Northern T4rritory and I am glad
that the Federal Government has been able to co-operate.
This is a very unique arrangement. I don't think any other
arrangement of the same kind has been given the privilege of
tax deductibility and if it wasn't for the persuasive powers
of Eddie Connellan and of his reputation, I am quite sure
it would nothave succeeded. oOo---