The Air Race was Cedar’s way of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first flight from England to Australia by Sir Ross Smith, Sir Keith Smith and mechanics, Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett.

A Brave Adventure 

The race took place in 1919, and was an amazing example of bravery and resourcefulness. These intrepid airmen faced many challenges while flying such a great distance, and their journey paved the way for the modern air flight we take for granted today.

Simply finding places to land was a challenge, as airfields weren’t common at all. Locals cut down trees in an effort to provide landing spaces, but neglected to remove the stumps, which caused obvious problems. Flying through clouds in mountainous areas with almost no visibility, freezing conditions and bogged landings were just a few of the challenges that the adventurers had to overcome. 

A Lesson in Flight

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of this intrepid air race, students in the Primary School enjoyed a history lesson in class, accompanied by a video and powerpoint presentation. The journey was also re-enacted by the Year 2 classes at Assembly, with a fantastic presentation of the famous event.

To finish the week, all students from Reception through to Year 6 competed in our very own Great Cedar College Air Race. Students had the opportunity to make their paper planes during lunch times, with the wonderful help and support of some of our Year 6 aircraft “engineers” (aka paper plane makers) Grant, Ethan, Alyssa, Abbey, Ishaan and William.

It was an exciting event! Every student who wanted to participate was able to launch their plane. The two winners were Deniz (Junior Primary) and Aaron (Upper Primary), whose planes flew an incredible distance. Our Year 12s also joined in the fun, with David taking out first place with the best overall flight. Of course, some of our teachers just couldn’t help themselves and had to have a go! Although Mr Klassen’s plane did well, it wasn’t enough to take first place, with Mr Peterson (High School Science teacher) giving the Primary School teachers a lesson in the art of paper plane flying.

Mr Nigel Austin, Upper Primary Co-ordinator