The accompanying illustration shows the design common to the two stamps commemorative of the 50th anniversary of the first air mail flight in Australia. Of 5d. and 2/3d denominations, they were issued at all post offices on Wednesday, 1st July, 1964, and will remain on sale for approximately three weeks. Both are of the large commemorative size and depict a Bleriot monoplane of the type used on the 1914 flight. The stamps were designed, engraved and recess-printed on unwatermarked paper in sheets of 80 at the Note Printing Branch, Reserve Bank of Australia, Melbourne; the 5d. stamp is sage-green in colour and the 2/3d is red.

Carriage of mail by air was a very new concept in 1914 — up to that time there had been only a few such flights beginning with the Zeppelin posts of 1909 in Germany and aeroplane flights in India, Denmark and England in 1911. Nevertheless, aviation was much in the news, and in Australia in early 1914 the well-known Australian pilot Harry Hawker had just concluded a series of exhibition flights. He had also proposed a Melbourne-Sydney flight, but could not obtain a sponsor. It was at this time that Maurice Guillaux, a French pilot, arrived in Australia. 

Guillaux was born in Montoire in 1883.  He was at first an automobile enthusiast, turning to aviation in 1911. He was one of the first men to fly from Paris to London, and in 1913 set a new world record for straight-line distance in one day by flying from Biarritz to Kollum, Holland. Guillaux arrived in Australia in April, 1914, with a Bleriot XI monoplane powered by a 50 h.p. Gnome rotary engine. The machine had specially-strengthened, increased-area flying surfaces for aerobatics, which were a feature of Guillaux's demonstrations in Victoria and N.S.W. He performed the first loops seen in Australia.

On 7th May, 1914, Mr. Arthur Rickard, a Sydney entrepreneur, wrote to the Deputy Postmaster-General in Sydney:?

"I am promoting an aeroplane flight between Melbourne and Sydney and have engaged the services of a tried aeronaut ... This flight is to take place about the first week in Ma^y, and will mark an epoch in Australian History. I now ask your co-operation ... to grant permission to carry a post card mail ... The post cards will need to be printed on specially light material to enable the aviator to carry a sufficient quantity up to 140lb. As such a flight has not yet been undertaken in any part of the world, I would request your Department to officially stamp these communications and I will be prepared to defray the expenses connected therewith ..."

Mr. Rickard attached a model of the proposed card — hand-lettered in pencil on salmon-coloured paper. Submitting the proposal to the Postmaster-General (Mr. Agar Wynne) the Deputy P.M.G. commented that "there does not appear to be any objection ... the cards should bear the necessary postage stamp, and be of the dimensions required by regulations, viz. not more than 5½" x 3½’  or less than 4’’ x 2¾”, the sample submitted by Mr. Rickard being somewhat smaller".

 The proposal was approved by the Postmaster-General, "on the distinct understanding that it is made clear to those who purchase and post the cards that the Department does not undertake any responsibility for their delivery and that no charge is to be made for their conveyance by airship (sic)". 

Meanwhile, arrangements for the flight went forward. Landing grounds and re-fuelling facilities along the route did not exist, of course, so M. Repusseau, one or Guillaux's associates, covered the route in advance, selecting racecourses, sports grounds and paddocks as possible landing places, and arranging dumps of fuel and oil. The flight was widely publicised, and at least one citizen was alert to the significance of aircraft as mail carriers. Referring to the advertised timetables of the flight, he wrote to the Postmaster-General, sa^ying that "our first aerial post should be the quickest possible, and not the longest ... I draw your attention to the period to be taken in the first monoplane post ..." Replying, the Department said that "the postal authorities have nothing to do with the arrangement of the details ... presumably the aviator will travel as fast as he considers he can with safety .. we could not ask him to take unnecessary risks".

On 9th July, 1914, Messrs C.H. Powis and R. Sissons of Melbourne wrote:? "With the authority of Mons. A. Maistre, manager for Mons. M. Guillaux, we propose to place on sale post cards for conveyance by aeroplane from Melbourne to Sydney. We should be glad to learn whether your Department would permit us to issue these cards and co-operate by placing the cards in a special bag .. and using a special cancelling stamp at this end?"

 The Department approved the specimen postcard attached and also a special cancellation, on condition that it was provided by Messrs Powis and Sissons, to be retained by the Department. (Editor's note: The postmarker does not now appear to be in Departmental archives.)

 With about 2,000 postcards and a number of letters (the exact total is uncertain) Guillaux took off from the Melbourne Showgrounds at 9.12 a.m. on 16th July, 1914. Weather conditions over the first leg of the route were a foretaste of what was to come; the flight was being made in mid-winter, over the most mountainous portion of the continent, where airline timetables are frequently disrupted in winter even with 1964 navigational aids. Guillaux was flying over terrain unfamiliar to him, with maps designed for surface travellers. The sense of wonder and admiration which his journey created is admirably conveyed in the newspapers of the time.

 Guillaux left Australia in August,1914,  to join his country's air service. He had one further contact with Australians; he was attached as an instructor for a short period in ₁₉₁₇ to No. 5 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, then stationed at Shawbury, England. Guillaux's irrepressible nature was still in evidence, and he won considerable sums in bets for his supporters by carrying five passengers to 10,000 feet in a two-seat Farman. He was killed in a crash on 22^nd May, 1917 at Villacoublay, France.

Extracted from AP Philatelic Bulletin no 66, June 1964