March17, 1910: The first Australian flight of a powered aircraft?

1910 Arguably the first Australian flight of a powered aircraft took place when mechanic Fred Custance (1889 - 1922) flew a Bleriot monoplane for five minutes and 25 seconds at Bolivar, South Australia. It ended in a "very rough landing". The flight was witnessed by FH Jones, the owner of the property, and several neighbours, but the claim has long been disputed.

The next day, March 18 [qv], 1910, American magician and escapologist, Harry Houdini, made a flight at Digger's Rest, near Melbourne. It is generally considered to qualify as the first controlled, powered flight in Australia, and certainly it was authenticated.

On December 9 [qv], 1909, at Sydney's Victoria Park racecourse, Colin Defries made a flight that even at the time was disputed, but appears to have greater claims to authenticity than that of Custance.