1934: The First of Two Grand Openings of a Tasmanian Airport

February 26, 1934

An airport on the northwestern coast of Australia’s island state of Tasmania was opened. This regional airport is adjacent to the town of Wynyard and about 11 miles (17 kilometers) west of the port city of Burnie.

Approximately 3,000 people showed up for the Monday afternoon debut of this airport, which was originally known as Wynyard Aerodrome. The facility was declared officially opened by George John Bell (1872-1944), who represented that section of Tasmania in the Australian House of Representatives between 1919 and 1922 and again from 1925 to 1943. A little less than eight months after handling the inaugural duties for Wynyard Aerodrome, Bell became speaker of that legislative body; he served in this leadership role until 1940.

The day after the formal introduction of the airport, the Burnie-based Advocate described that event’s celebratory atmosphere and activities. “In conjunction with the official opening an air pageant was arranged,” reported this newspaper. “There were 14 planes, including the visiting [Royal Australian Air Force] squadron. The success of the fixture exceeded the most optimistic expectations, and will have a great effect in advancing aviation in this part of the State.”

On January 1 of the following year, another inaugural ceremony was held for Wynyard Aerodrome. The public official presiding this time around was Joseph Lyons (1879-1939), a Tasmanian resident who served as prime minister of Australia from 1932 until his death. This facility is now known as Burnie Airport. It is majority-owned by the Burnie City Council. (The accompanying photo of the airport was taken in 2022.)

Photo Credit: DaHuzyBru (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

Additional information on Burnie Airport (originally called Wynyard Aerodrome) is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnie_Airport

For more information on this airport’s original dedication ceremony, please check out https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/68151573/5762010