The handwriting is not easy to decipher 100 years later, but after passing your eyes over the faded scrawl a couple of times you realise you are seeing back in time to a decision that built a great institution.
"Moved by Lt Harrison, seconded by Capt. White that an Aero Club be formed. Carried. Moved by Capt. White, seconded by Lt Petre that the club be called Australian Aero Club. Carried."
With these words, written on a piece of lined paper on 28 October 1914 at Point Cook, an aero club was born, just a mere four years after the first powered flight took place in Australia. That club has stood proud now for a century, and is known today as the Royal Victorian Aero Club.
And the six men who gathered that day weren't just enthusiasts; they were the students and instructors of the first flying course at Point Cook: Harrison, White, Williams, Petre, Manwell and Merz. Thomas White went on the become a Minister of Aviation, Williams became Air Vice Marshall Sir Richard Williams and with Eric Harrison set down the foundations for the RAAF, Henry Petre commanded the Mesopotamia Half Flight and earned a DSO, Military Medal and four Mentions in Despatches and David Manwell earned an MBE for his work with the Australian Flying Corps in WWI.
George Merz, sadly, became one of the first two Australian airman to die on active service only a few months after the club's founding meeting.
Could an aero club have had a finer pedigree than these six founding fathers? As "Royal Vic" sits down to celebrate its centenary with a gala dinner on Saturday 25 October this year, their legacy to Australian aviation comes back into the spotlight.
The war that drew these men to Europe in 1914 created a population of trained pilots that the natural growth of aviation could never have done in such a short time. After a hiatus period, the Australian Aero Club (Victorian Division) re-emerged in 1924 with the aim of keeping alive the flying skills of all those pilots. Based at the new Essendon Airport in Melbourne, the club started training with DH60 Gipsy Moths, with the Federal Government paying a bonus of £20 for each person who passed their licence test.
By 1935, the club had trained a new generation of pilots and operated under the new name Royal Victorian Aero Club. The spirit of the new wave of civilian pilots was on display the year before, when 28-year-old member Freda Thompson flew her own Moth Major from the UK to Australia in 19 days, becoming the first Australian woman to do so. Thompson also claims the title of the first female flying instructor in the Commonwealth. Her name rightly belongs with most lauded women pilots Australia has produced.
Royal Vic continued to train both civil and military pilots at Essendon. One of the selected instructors teaching RAAF pilots was Roy Goon. An Australian-born Chinese, Goon went to China to fly with a volunteer group against the Japanese in 1937. He returned to Royal Vic the following year. When war again visited the world in 1939, Goon enlisted in the air force and went on to command 83 Squadron, and earned a Mention in Despatches for his work protecting convoys along the shipping routes of Northern Australian and the Torres Strait. He returned to Royal Vic in the 1970s as Chief Flying Instructor.
Although busy teaching air force pilots during the Second World War, the conflict had an adverse effect on Royal Vic, with the membership shrinking to only 73 in 1944, and the fleet clocking only 387 hours for the year. Members were going into uniform, and it showed by the lack of movement on the club's apron at Essendon.
It was in the post-war era that Royal Vic thrived and grew perhaps more than any time in its 100 years. The club departed Essendon for the new airport at Moorabbin in 1949, and spread out into regional Victoria with Shepparton, Kerang, Benalla and Albury among several satellite operations. By 1962, the club had closed the last of their regional centres, but in several cases the remnants left behind formed the beginnings of local aero clubs.
Throughout these "golden" years, the basic trainers employed were largely the venerable Tiger Moth and De Havilland Chipmunk. Time wearied these old workhorses, and in the late 1950s the newer style Piper and Cessna aeroplanes began to appear in Royal Vic markings.
Those years were the halcyon days for general aviation all over the world: a new breed of military-trained pilots were spreading their civilian wings and Royal Vic was a beneficiary. In 1968 the club had 1426 members, and the fleet recorded 25,000 flying hours; a far cry from the meagre returns of 1944.
Having survived the devastating contraction that struck general aviation from the mid-1980s onward, Royal Vic today is the largest training organisation at Moorabbin Airport, and the familiar blue and gold livery is instantly recognised whenever one of their fleet of over 20 aircraft ventures away from home. The club holds regular competitions for members, and promotes aviation through their annual Young Eagles program, special flight experiences for ABLE Australia and the Dawn Patrol, which commemorates the Battle of Britain every year.
They continue to train pilots from scratch up to ATPL, and have former students flying with several major airlines around the world.
The original six founders could not have known that with a few short sentences they would create an aviation institution that was still in operation 100 years later. Except for the tragic Merz, they would all go on to leave lasting legacies for aviation in Australia, of which the Royal Victorian Aero Club is certainly not the least of them.
Bookings for the gala dinner are expected to close in the next couple of weeks, such has been the interest. Contact the club on (03) 8586 7777 and check the details on their website.