THE GENIUS OF LAWRENCE HARGRAVE

"As I sit here on Stanwell Park Beach and watch another massive airliner heading towards Sydney Airport to deliver hundreds of passengers from some far-flung place on the planet, I am reminded of the fact that this was not always so. For thousands of years, human flight was just a dream. It took centuries to unlock the secrets of human flight, but one man did probably more than any other person to unlock these secrets and he did much of his work here in Stanwell Park and most famously on this beach. He was Lawrence Hargrave.

The 12th of November 2024 marks the 130th Anniversary of the famous Lawrence Hargrave box-kite lift experiment at Stanwell Park Beach. It was one of the most significant break throughs in the development of the flying machine or airplane.

On that day Lawrence Hargrave was raised up 16 feet while tethered to four box kites, which were strung out in a line in the air behind him. It was the first time in human history that heavier than air stable lift off and landing had been achieved. Hargrave’s aircraft, the box-kite was his invention. He had constructed the kites that he flew that day in a workshop that was located on the Northern deck of his home, ‘Hillcrest’. Hillcrest still stands today.

The box-kite allowed for stable lift off, stable flight and stable landing. As I have said, prior to the 12th of November 1894, so many experimenters in Europe and America had been experimenting with human flight, often with tragic outcomes, because they could not develop an aircraft that could lift off, fly, and land with stability. Lawrence Hargrave’s box-kite, therefore, was the great break through. If you look at the first aircraft built and flown by the Wright brothers and Europeans such as Santos-Dumont, you can clearly see that they are a series of box-kites strung together to form an aircraft, that is powered by a rotary engine. Hargrave was rarely credited for his work because he didn’t believe in patents. He shared his ideas freely with the world through the publication of his journal articles to various Scientific Societies around the world.

Regarding the rotary engine, this was Lawrence Hargrave’s invention as well. The rotary engine was the engine that powered aircraft well into the 20th Century. There is some dispute about who invented the rotary engine as when you google ‘Rotary Engine’ a variety of names will emerge as being credited with inventing it. In a recent visit to the ‘Powerhouse Museum’ at Castle Hill, by the Lawrence Hargrave Society, I spoke to the curators of the Lawrence Hargrave Collection, and they confirmed that their research does indeed verify that it was Lawrence Hargrave who invented the rotary engine. Hargrave also made a significant contribution to the development of the leading thickened wing edge or aerofoil, which can still be seen today on modern aircraft.

These inventions took years of thought, experimentation, and development to come to fruition as Hargrave devoted a lifetime to unlocking the secrets of human flight. He was an amazing man who achieved all if this while living in the relative isolation of Australia at the time, with limited resources available to him to support his pursuit of this dream.

You can see the immense contribution that Lawrence Hargrave made to the development of the early flying machine.

When at the Powerhouse Museum, viewing the aircraft engines that he had developed, his kites, gliders, souring machines and his journals, the members of the 'Lawrence Hargrave Society' had a sense that they were surrounded by genius. The copperplate writing, the intricate working of the metal and wood in the engines and gliders revealed a meticulous mind, exquisite craftmanship, determination and resilience. Lawrence Hargrave is a great Australian, who we can all be proud of, and he achieved so much of his success while a resident in Stanwell Park.

The box kite lift experiment of the 12th of November 1894, on Stanwell Park Beach is an event of local, national, and international significance and it is to be celebrated.

Here in Hargrave’s words is a description of what happened on that day as he and his caretaker James Swain look the box-kites from ‘Hilcrest’ down to Stanwell Park Beach.

“On the 12th a southerly buster came in at 11.00am of what appeared to be the right strength. Swain and I carried five kites and the gear to the beach.”

The kites were laid out on the beach in a line behind Hargrave and in front of him the rope was tied to sandbags which would prevent him from being carried off over Bald Hill.

“Toggled on the sling seat and got onboard with anemometer and clinometer. Swain slacked away the tackle fall to the end. I was then forty two feet from the sand bags and dancing round in an arc of forty two degrees on my toes…….after quarter of an hour or so the wind freshened and I went up, wind reaching 18.6mph….the wind fell lighter and I came down. Wind rather puffy, went up several times not long enough to take a wind reading. A long and strong puff then sent me up like a shot and I got a wind reading of 21 mph. Swain read the spring balance 214 lb. Angle of the kite string with the horizontal about 60 degrees, my height above ground, 16 feet. Wind fell lighter and I came down and with purchase just able to haul myself and the kites to the mooring. Swain and I hauled down the kites with some difficulty.”

Extracts from ‘Lawrence Hargrave-Aviation Pioneer, Inventor and Explorer’ pgs. 76-77.

W. Hudson Shaw and Olaf Ruhen

University of Queensland Press, 1977.

... and with that Lawrence Hargrave had flown into history.

Rob Deacon,

President of the Lawrence Hargrave Society.

We look forward to meeting you soon at Shellharbour Airport, 54 Airport Rd, Albion Park Rail NSW 2527

Email us on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.