Skip to the content.

Sources for 1940 Canberra air crash disaster

OpenStreetMap Contributers 2026

Video by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

Video by pier6260 from Pixabay

McKechnie, Frank, “Air transport in New Guinea”. 24 July 1943. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C190216

Parer, Damien Peter, “Infantry manoeuvres”. 2 September 1940. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C188671\

Ford, Ross Herschel, “Australia is like this”. Department of Information. c 1944. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C188878

POPULATION OF AUSTRALIA (1940, July 26). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 2., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2534263

John Torcasio, ‘Victoria Barracks, Melbourne 1872’. 19 March 2013. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria_Barracks,_Melbourne_1872.jpg

‘OME OF THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR CABINET MEETING IN THE WAR CABINET ROOM, 1ST FLOOR A BLOCK NEW WING - VICTORIA BARRACKS, MELBOURNE’. Herald Newspapers. 10 November 1943. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C58203

McNeeley, Chad J. 9 November 2010. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chairman_of_the_Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff_Navy_Adm._Mike_Mullen,_left,_and_Australian_Defense_Force_Air_Chief_Marshal_Angus_Houston,_right,_conduct_bilateral_meetings_at_the_Victoria_Barracks_in_Melbourne_101109-N-TT977-019.jpg

Pentreath, Albert Stanley & Rintel, David Leslie, ‘General Blamey arrives at Essendon’. 29 June 1944. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C190231

Bonython, Hugh Reskymer (Kym), ‘Guardians of the trade routes’. March 1941. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C191333

AIR CRASH VICTIMS (1940, August 15). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 3., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40940602

‘Keith Anderson and Henry (Bobby) Hitchcock in front of the aircraft Kookaburra’. State Library of Western Australia. https://catalogue.slwa.wa.gov.au/record=b1821783~S2

Canberra Aeroplane Disaster (1940, August 22). Dalgety’s Review (Perth, WA : 1926 - 1948), p. 2., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article265536429

Cranstone, Edward Lefevre (Ted), ‘BRIG. G.A. STREET. M.C. (NEGATIVE BY CRANSTONE).’. Australian War Memorial. 9 June 1940. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C24164

‘File:James Fairbairn in Dili (cropped).png’. Department of Air. 22 July 1939. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Fairbairn_in_Dili_(cropped).png

‘Henry Gullett’. National Library of Australia. Fairfax. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Gullett_in_profile.jpg

’ Portrait of General Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White KCB KCMG KCVO DSO.’. Department of Information. ca. March 1940. Australian War Memorial.

10 DIE IN BURNT PLANE (1940, August 14). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 1., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11297550

(1940, August 15). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 8., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page3731242

‘MELBOURNE, VIC. 1943-11-10. SOME MEMBERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT WAR CABINET MEETING IN THE FEDERAL MEMBERS ROOMS’, Herald Newspaper. 10 November 1943. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C263074

Canberra Air Crash Wreckage: 10 Dead (1940, August 15). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 1. Retrieved February 22, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40940483

Carty, William Montague, ‘Mobile operating theatre’. October 1942. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C189128

CANBERRA AIR DISASTER. (1940, August 29). The Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930 - 1956), p. 24. from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article76230858

‘Canberra. 1940-08. A RAAF Corporal on guard duty at the crash site of a RAAF Lockheed Hudson’. August 1940. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C306108

Mr. Justice Lowe To Preside At Air Crash Inquiry (1940, August 21). The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956), p. 3., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article278181756

Long March: Canberra Disaster: New Fire Ladder: (1940, August 22). The Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 25., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92391617

Crawley Films Ltd. ‘Battle of Britain (DPR RAAF stock shots)’. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C345661

(1940, August 15). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved February 22, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1996748

‘Brigadier Street’. c. 1939. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C189242

‘Burnt and corroded uniform insignia : General Sir Brudenell White, Chief of the General Staff, Australian Military Forces’. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C974777

Department of Information, ‘Mr Menzies at Puckapunyal camp’. 28 June 1940. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C188730

CANBERRA AIR CRASH SENATOR McBRIDE, MR. A. W. FADDEN (1940, August 14). The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (NSW : 1856 - 1861; 1863 - 1889; 1891 - 1954), p. 4 (FINAL EDITION)., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193911800

Cranstone, Edward Lefevre (Ted), ‘MR HAROLD HOLT, MINISTER FOR LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICES.’ November 1940. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C25821

NEWS OF THE DAY (1940, August 28). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 8., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204401192

MR. MENZIES TO RESIGN TO-DAY (1941, August 29). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 5., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205176894

United States Army Signal Corps, ‘Blamey and Curtin in the USA’. May - June 1944. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C189094

‘ArthurColes1945’. 1945. National Archives of Australia. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ArthurColes1945.jpg

'’Time’ library shots. ca. 1940s. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C189287

‘George McLeay 1949’. ca. 1949. State Library of South Australia. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_McLeay_1949_(cropped).jpg

‘Arthur Fadden’. 1940. National Library of Australia. Wikimedia Commons. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136661326 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FaddenPEO.jpg

‘Mr Menzies in USA’, 6 May 1941. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C189096

A NATION MOURNS CANBERRA AIR CRASH VICTIMS (1940, August 24). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 20., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142142324

WREATH TO MARK A.C.T. AIR TRAGEDY (1960, August 12). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 3., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137121130

Doherty, Megan, ‘‘Dad, you forgot your scarf’: Family remembers victims of Canberra air disaster’. 14 August 2025. The Canberra Times. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9039968/canberras-secret-air-disaster-memorial-revealed/

Memorial to Canberra Air Crash Victims Suggested (1940, October 12). The Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), p. 2., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78103753

Memorial To Victims Of 1940 Air Disaster (1958, September 13). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 11., from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103120821