Duigan Aircraft
The Centenary of the first Australian made aeroplane to fly in 1910, the Duigan aeroplane, will be celebrated in July, 2010, at Mia Mia, Victoria, the district where the plane was built and the early flights took place. The Duigan Aeroplane was designed and constructed by John Robertson Duigan with the assistance of his younger brother, Reginald Charles Duigan on their parent’s property, ‘Spring Plains’ at Mia Mia near Kyneton Victoria. After many trials, the first flight was achieved by John on 16th July, 1910, thus making this event to be the first flight of an Australian aeroplane.
To celebrate this historic event a replica is being constructed to be on view in Mia Mia at the time of the Centenary in 2010 and at the Airshow in Avalon 2011. It is anticipated that this Replica will fly! We would welcome your support for this project. Details on making a donation to the construction of the Replica, as well as providing an historical record of the Duigan Biplane, Duigan family members, and the celebrations planned for Mia Mia in 2010 will be covered on this website.
Other aeroplanes were flown in Australia in 1909 and 1910, all of overseas design and construction. An imported Wright machine from the USA was flown briefly, by Colin Defries in Sydney on December 9th, 1909; other European aircraft also arrived including an imported Bleriot, flown by Fred Custance in Adelaide on 17th March, 1910 and the most notable of these, an imported Voisin, which was flown by Harry Houdini at Digger’s Rest on March 21 st, 1910.