Life on the West Island - The man on the $20 note

You may remember the West Island’s paper banknotes, issued from the transition to decimal currency in 1966 until they were replaced by the current polymer currency in 1994. The paper notes featured images of people who had made significant contributions to the life of the nation.

We were reminded of this on a recent trip south and east along the Princes Highway, one of the nation’s longest major roads, stretching over 2,200 kilometres from Sydney to Adelaide, much of it skirting the coast. Not too far south of Sydney, we turned off onto Lawrence Hargrave Drive, a few kilometres south of the railway junction town of Waterfall.

Although we remembered Lawrence Hargrave, for whom the road was named, from his image on the $20 banknote, we realised that we did not know much about his life and achievements until we read a memorial plaque atop the steep cliffs at Stanwell Tops.

Subsequent research found that he was born in Greenwich, England, in 1850. His family migrated to Australia in 1865, and young Lawrence was apprenticed to an engineer. Apart from becoming skilled in the engineering profession, he was an adventurous young man and in January 1872, he joined a prospecting expedition to New Guinea. On the way, his ship struck a reef and many died. On a second journey three years later, as ship's engineer, he reached New Guinea. Over the next nine months he took detailed notes and drawings of the people, their homes and technological devices.

In 1878 Hargrave married Margaret Johnston with whom he had six children – five gils and a boy. That same year, he joined the Sydney Observatory as an astronomical observer, and during almost six years there, developed a strong interest in aeronautics.

Lawrence’s father was a judge, who made astute investments and on retiring from public life, decided to establish a grand estate in the Bulli region. In the early 1880s he purchased several adjoining properties in what was then known as Little Bulli and established a household he named Stanwell Estate after the prominent politician Sir William Stanwell.

Judge Hargrave died in 1885 and his will divided the estate among his four children. Ralph, the oldest, received the central “Park” area, part of which was sold in 1888 to pay for the construction of his new home “Hillcrest”. Ralph died on an overseas trip in the same year and left the property to his brother Lawrence.

Lawrence Hargrave had been living at Ruschutters Bay in Sydney during the 1870s and it was there that he carried out his first experiments with box kites. In 1883 the family moved to Stanwell Park and Lawrence continued his experiments on Bald Hill, high above the beach at Stanwell Tops.

In the 1890s the poor power-to-weight ratio of most engines and inefficient propeller design meant that aeronautical pioneers focused more on the study of gliding and wing design rather than powered flight.

Hargrave produced a series of monoplane gliders, but unhappy with their stability began to study box kites instead. Shortly after settling at Stanwell Park, he wrote:

I am using kites, and find perfect stability can be got by making them of three dimensions instead of two. Cellular kites do not confine their surface to one plane, but distribute it in various portions, forming cells through which the wind blows.

Of great significance to those pioneers working toward powered flight, in one experiment Hargrave successfully lifted himself 16 feet off the ground. The Stanwell Park area is well known for its favourable gliding winds and on the morning of 12 November 1894 Hargrave launched a linked series of four box kites off the town beach and then climbed into a seat attached to the lowest kite. A strong gust propelled him into the air, and because of their box design the kites remained steady in the buffeting winds.

Having proven that human flight on a stable, multi-winged craft was possible, he wrote: the particular steps gained are the demonstration that an extremely simple apparatus can be made, carried about, and flown by one man without any risk of accident.

Hargrave’s designs were quickly taken up by other inventors, including the American Octave Chanute, with whom who he was in correspondence, and whose designs were later incorporated by the Wright brothers into their Wright Flyer, the first aircraft to achieve powered flight with a pilot on board in December 1903.

Hargrave’s interest in aeronautical experimentation continued throughout his life. His later research included investigations into ways the curvature of wings could increase lift. His designs strongly influenced early human flight and he is recognised today as one of the great pioneers of aeronautics.

His best-known inventions were:

• The box kite which greatly improved the lift to drag ratio of early gliders;
• Curved aerofoils with thick leading edges; and
• Major contributions to the development of the rotary engine, which powered many early flying machines in the first two decades of the 20^th Century.

He made endless experiments and numerous models and communicated his conclusions in a series of papers to the Royal Society of New South Wales. Two papers published in the 1885 volume of its Journal and Proceedings show that he was early on the road to success. Other important papers can be found in the 1893 and 1895 volumes which reported on his experiments with flying-machine motors and cellular kites.

Hargrave’s only son Geoffrey was killed in action in May 1915 during the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign and only weeks later Hargrave himself died of complications from surgery for peritonitis in Sydney on 6 July 1915, aged 65. His pioneering work in aviation was appropriately honoured when he was commemorated on the first West Island $20 note in 1966.

Next time we traverse Lawrence Hargrave Drive, which now forms part of the spectacular Grand Pacific Drive, we will reflect on Hargrave’s significant role in enabling humans to fly.