Sir Hudson Fysh further papers, 1913-1974

MLMSS 8161
MLOH 649

fonds

1913-1974

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Clippings, Drawings, Ephemera, Photographs, Posters

119183

0.97 metres of textual material (6 boxes)
4 sound cassettes

Sir Wilmot Hudson Fysh (1895-1974) was born on 7 January 1895 at Launceston, Tasmania, son of Frederick Wilmot Fysh, merchant, and his wife Mary, daughter of Henry Reed. His great-uncle Sir Philip Fysh was twice premier of Tasmania.

After returning from the war in 1919, Hudson Fysh, with Pat McGinness, another ex-service airman, and Arthur Baird, an engineer, planned to enter the Australian government's £10,000 prize contest for a flight from England to Australia. Unable to proceed because of the death of their financial backer, Sir Samuel McCaughey, Fysh and McGinness were instead commissioned by the government to survey the Longreach (Queensland)-Darwin section of the route: their T-model Ford was the first car to journey overland to the Gulf of Carpentaria. On 16 November 1920 Fysh and McGinness with western Queensland graziers Fergus McMaster, Ainslie Templeton and Alan Campbell formed the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (QANTAS).

Through the second half of 1921 the company worked to persuade the government to back a regular Charleville-Cloncurry passenger service. In February 1922 QANTAS tendered successfully and the service, with its invaluable mail-subsidy, opened on 2 November with 87-year-old Alexander Kennedy as its first passenger.

He became managing director of QANTAS in 1923, remaining a regular pilot until 1930. In 1921 Fysh had advised John Flynn on the practicalities of a flying-doctor service and in 1928-47 QANTAS piloted an ambulance airplane for the Australian Inland Mission.

On 18 January 1934 QANTAS, in equal partnership with Imperial Airways, founded Qantas Empire Airways Ltd (QEA), with Fysh as managing director. In December 1946 the Australian government acquired the original half-interest of Imperial Airways in QEA and next year became the company's sole owner. Fysh conducted the negotiations and remained managing director and at the same time succeeded McMaster as chairman. He become chairman of the newly formed hotel company Qantas Wentworth Holdings in 1951, and was appointed K.B.E. in 1953.

Hudson Fysh retired as managing director of QEA in 1955, in which year the old QANTAS went into liquidation. He eventually relinquished chairmanship in 1966.

In retirement Fysh wrote an autobiographical trilogy, Qantas Rising (1965), Qantas at War (1968) and Wings to the World (1970). He also published Taming the North (1933), The Log of the Astraea (1933?), Round the Bend in the Stream (1968), a treatise on trout fishing, and Henry Reed: Van Diemen's Land Pioneer (1973).

Fysh died on 6 April 1974, survived by his wife, Elizabeth Eleanor Dove, and by a son, John Hudson Fysh, and daughter, Wendy Elizebeth Fysh.

Reference:
Percival, J., 'Fysh, Sir Wilmot Hudson (1895–1974)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fysh-sir-wilmot-hudson-6263/text10789 (accessed December 16, 2011)

BOX 1
Folder 1
Sir Hudson Fysh strong box papers: J. C. [Joyce Chivers] incident, with explanatory note by John Fysh, 1959-1974

Folder 2
Reports, correspondence, and papers primarily relating to issues with Cedric Turner, ca. 1934-1965

Folder 3
Reports, correspondence, and papers primarily relating to an incident between Sir Hudson Fysh and J. R. D. Tata of Air India, and issues concerning directors, 1960-1964

Folder 4
Reports, correspondence, papers, and newspaper clippings, covering management issues, succession planning, company organisation, and expenses, 1956-1965

Folder 5
Reports, correspondence, papers, and newspaper clippings, primarily covering management issues, directors, and tripartite pooling, 1954-1966

Folder 6
Book of wildflower specimens (most named), picked in the Snowy Mountains by Sir Hudson Fysh in the first week of December, 1965; and some collected later while fishing in far South Eastern New South Wales

BOX 2
Folder 1
Correspondence between Sir Hudson Fysh and his son John Hudson Fysh (mainly while overseas), also including attached copies of speeches, articles, newspaper clippings and pamphlets, 1940-1950

Folder 2
Letters from Sir Hudson Fysh to his son John Hudson Fysh, also including copies of speeches, articles, papers, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, photographs, notes on a holiday at the Creel, Thredbo River, 1950-1954

Folder 3
Letters from Sir Hudson Fysh to his son John Hudson Fysh in Japan, including copies of speeches, reports, pamphlets, photographs, newspaper clippings, and notes on travel, 1955

Folder 4
Letters from Sir Hudson Fysh to his son John Hudson Fysh in Japan, including copies of speeches, reports, pamphlets, article and photographs of 'Mt. Kosciusko' exhibit, and newspaper clippings, 1956

Folder 5
Letters from Sir Hudson Fysh to his son John Hudson Fysh in San Francisco, including copies of speeches, reports, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, photographs, Qantas newsletters, and material relating to the opening of Qantas House, 1957

Folder 6
Letters from Sir Hudson Fysh to his son John Hudson Fysh in San Francisco and New York, including copies of speeches, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, photographs, material relating to the opening of Qantas House, and notes on visit to Russia, 1957

BOX 3
Folder 1
Letters from Sir Hudson Fysh to his son John Hudson Fysh in Sydney, including copies of speeches, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence with the Public Library of New South Wales, other correspondence, IATA conference material, further notes on the Creel, Thredbo River, 1960-1964

Folder 2
Letters from Sir Hudson Fysh to his son John Hudson Fysh, including newspaper clippings, copies of speeches, reports, notes for IATA, brochure on fishing, March fishing on the Creel, etc., 1965-1966

Folder 3
Letters from Sir Hudson Fysh to his son John Hudson Fysh, including newspaper clippings, poetry, anecdotes, photographs, and other correspondence, 1966-1972

Folder 4
Family correspondence and papers, 1950-1971

Folder 5
Family correspondence and papers, including will of Mary Fysh, and details of estate of Theodore Hooke Hill, 1938-1973

Folder 6
Correspondence, papers, newspaper clippings, biographical details of pilots, personal recollections, photographs, 1925 ticket for QANTAS, Imperial Airways Limited ticket, 1941 Qantas Empire Airways ticket, articles on aviation in Far North Queensland by Sir Hudson Fysh, etc., 1920-1964

BOX 4
Folder 1
Sir Hudson Fysh correspondence with Donald Cameron, Charles Elliott, Edgar Johnston, P. J. McGinnes, Allan Cobby, Furgus McMaster, A. E. Rudder, J. V. Fairbairn, Paul Bewshea, C. A. S. Hawker, Geoffrey Hughes, Horace Brinsmead, Charles Ulm, Woods Humphrey, Lord Dytsnolhi, Norman Brearley, P. J. Moody, R. Williams, Laurence Wackett, C. W. A. Scott, Kennedy Scott, Lester Brain, De Havilland, Russell Tap, John Collins, Murray Jones, and J. R. Darling; also includes coded telegrams, and newspaper clippings, 1925-1939

Folder 2
Primarily family papers and correspondence, 1935-1967

Folder 3
Business and family correspondence, including details of John Hudson Fysh's employment with T.W.A. and B.O.A.C., 1950-1969

Folder 4
Primarily business papers and correspondence, also includes newspaper clippings, 1939-1963

Folder 5
Correspondence and copies of newspaper clippings; sketches and doodles from meetings; 1974 badge from Dural Country Club; envelope of foreign currency; receipts from QEA; case in support of the acquisition of the Wentworth Hotel; share certificate; and christening certificate of Sir Hudson Fysh, 1913-1973

BOX 5
Folder 1
Correspondence and papers concerning the lead up to, and conditions of, the retirement as Chairman of Sir Hudson Fysh from QEA, as well as the handover period to Sir Roland Wilson, ca. 1963-1967

Folder 2
Copies of Qantas News; flyers; material relating to the opening of the John Flynn Memorial Church; Wentworth Hotel brochure; copies of speeches; personal papers including receipts, invitations, prescriptions, etc., 1961-1968

Folder 3
Correspondence between Sir Hudson Fysh, Ministers for Civil Aviation, Prime Minister, and the Minister for Defence, 1936-1966

Folder 4
Correspondence, newspaper clippings, papers, statistical information, articles, etc., relating to difficulties and changes to Qantas routes and services, international airlines, and the Qantas Board, ca. 1971-1973

Folder 5
Material relating to the ABC production of Hallo God, My Name's Smith or Those Were the Years (1971) on the early days of Qantas, 1971

BOX 6
Folder 1
Publication, correspondence, and newspaper clippings on the suspension of Mr. M. L. Shepherd, Secretary for Defence, on charges made by Captain H. J. Larkin, 1929

Folder 2
Correspondence, papers, copies of speeches, invitations, leaflets, etc. relating to the Royal Flying Doctor memorial at Cloncurry, Queensland, and the Australian Inland Mission Memorial Cloister, 1969

Folder 3
Notes by Sir Hudson Fysh on dreams, fear, personal history, personal finances and housing, ca. 1950s

Folder 4
Collection of leaflets and presentations on aviation and the flying doctor service, poster advertising flights with Charles Ulm in the Faith of Australia, and photographs and negatives, ca. 1930s-1960s

Folder 5
Correspondence and collection of receipts and accounts for rates, artwork, services, memberships, etc., 1935-1968

Restricted: Restriction to be reviewed 2026

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Approval for reproduction required: Permission by John Hudson Fysh
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy John Hudson Fysh

Information upgraded as part of the Manuscripts Unprocessed eRecords Project 2011-2012