At the opening of an exhibition honouring Lawrence Hargrave, Whitlam MP Stephen Jones issued a challenge - make the aviation pioneer as well known here as he is around the world.
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The inventor and engineer developed a series of box kites that, in November 1894, lifted him almost five metres off the sand of Stanwell Park Beach.
The Wright brothers, usually credited as the first men to achieve flight, borrowed some of Hargrave's ideas - and several speakers at the exhibition opening said his achievements were more recognised in the US than Australia.
"If you look at Hargrave's history he didn't take patents for anything - he gave them gave them freely to anyone who wanted them," said Bob Black, curator of the exhibition at HARS and vice president of the Lawrence Hargrave Society.
"If you look at the original Wright aircraft you see his box kites in the wings. That's what they used."
Mr Jones felt it was time to fix the fact Hargrave was better known overseas than here.
"Let's change that," Mr Jones said.
"If you stand at the memorial at Bald Hill, you look out onto the beach where the kites were conceived and first tested. Who knows whether the Wright brothers would have invented flight? We don't know if they would have got there or not, but we know they got there a lot quicker because of the work of Hargrave."
While Hargrave flew at Stanwell Park in the Wollongong LGA, Shellharbour Mayor Chris Homer felt it made sense to house the exhibition at HARS.
"This is probably the most obvious place to set it up and honour the history and significance of Lawrence Hargrave," Cr Homer said.
"You go to Wollongong there is some legacy in Wollongong, which I think is really good.
"I'm happy to see that the legacy of this pioneering aviation legend is being honoured in both cities."
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
