of the Jolly Roger

Colourful captain of the Jolly Roger

By a special reporter

The loss of a leg in an aviation accident did not prevent Goya Henry, who died recently in Sydney from becoming a colourful character in two transport fields —air and sea. He was probably best known as an aviator, in Australia at any rate, but his maritime career was in Papua New Guinea.

At an age when most men, after an adventurous aviation career like his would have settled for an early retirement, Goya Henry took himsell off to PNG—this was in the early 1950s —to become a master in the small ships of the coastal fleet. He was in PNG for about 10 years, be coming a well-known, and popula figure. But his career at sea palee into insignificance compared wit] some of his exploits as an aviatior pioneer.

He was one of the early barn stormers in a Genairco plane, name the Jolly Roger, complete with sku and crossbones, operating out o Mascot, Sydney. This was in th early 1930s. He made his living flym; joyriders, and there were thousand who wanted to see what Sydne; looked like from the sky. He als used beaches all along the NSW coas as landing fields. He once flew unde Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Mr Henry was indirectly responi ible for giving Australia-wide confix of civil aviation to the Feden Government. He used a technicalit to allow him to fly in Queensland an Victoria without crossing State boi ders. Mr Henry, after the accident i which he lost a leg, was refused licence to fly by the forerunner c today’s Civil Aviation Departmen The then civil aviation branch of th Defence Department ruled that on! pilots with all their limbs could fly.

Mr Henry appealed to the Hig Court, which ruled that the branc did not have control oyer intrastal aviation. In the air again, he woul often fly to the Victorian or Queen land borders. Then he would ha\ his aircraft towed across the bord< to a suitable airfield and continue h activities “intrastate”. It took tvs referendums to give the Feder; Government control over civ aviation. , During the vacuum when tnei were no Federal civil aviation regi lations covering intrastate flights tr pilots themselves set their own safe!

Continued on p

standards and rigidly observed them.

Their association was the forerunner of today’s Australian Airline Pilots Association.

Goya Henry had a sideline which did not endear him to his passengers —collecting snakes as a commercial proposition. There was a ready mar ket in Sydney warehouses for carpet snakes to keep down vermin, while research laboratories were interested in the poisonous varieties for anti venene study. He was adept at trap ping snakes.

Often during a flight he would land in snake-infested country, trap snakes with a forked stick, and put them into sugar bags. He would then bundle the bags into the cockpit. He carried many “edgy” passengers on his flights back to Sydney from Macquarie Marshes one of his favourite trapping areas.

It had to happen—once a brown snake escaped from a bag in the cock pit. With the snake staring him in the face, Goya Henry took the air craft up, to 12,000 feet, he said later, and anaesthetised it. The snake re covered at Mascot and escaped.

He often told of another incident when he was flying at 300 feet over Mascot. Something seemed to be coming straight at him, and in a reflex action he put up his hand to shield his face. He gathered in a bird, which was knocked out. He took the bird home and looked after it till it was able to fly again. Then he flew to 300 feet and released it. • The Tokelau Islands in 1973 earned total revenue of $42,274, principally from export duty on copra. Other revenue came from customs duty of 12i per cent on all imports, trading profits, stamps and radio and telegram services. Expen diture was mainly diverted to capital works, social services and the cost of administration.