Mystery of the Southern Cloud

Southern Cloud Air Mystery of the Mountains

Australia’s first major aviation disaster not only spelt financial ruin for the legendary Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm and their fledgling Australian National Airways, but it ushered in the eventual establishment of the beginnings of an air traffic surveillance and control system administered by a government department.

The loss of the Southern Cloud airliner in 1931 was Australia’s first major civil aviation disaster and ushered in the call for an air traffic surveillance and control system operated by a specialist government department. Eight people lost their lives in the crash. While this death toll seems small by comparison with the appalling numbers of people killed in jet accidents today, the Southern Cloud tragedy occurred at a time when Australian commercial flying was still very much in its youth.

The failure to find any sign of the aircraft further heightened the tragedy and captured the attention of thousands of Australians. For several weeks in March • April 1931 the Southern Cloud story rivalled the Depression for column space in the nation’s newspapers. It was not until 1958 • twenty-seven years after the aeroplane disappeared • that the wreckage was found. Southern Cloud ranks as one of the great mysteries of Australian aviation history.

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