AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In Australia in the mid 1920s, flight was still new, dangerous and glamorous - and aviators were all men. That was until a petite and quietly-spoken 49 year-old mother of three, Millicent Bryant, took her first flight, igniting a passion that led her to become the first woman in the Commonwealth outside Britain to gain a pilot's licence. While newspapers all over Australia began following her progress in the 'race', few outside her family knew the determination and depth of personality that took her into other areas considered unusual for a woman at that time, such as business and politics. And were it not for an ironic stroke of fate, her name may have become as familiar as other pioneers of the air such as Smithy, Hinkler or Nancy Bird Walton.
'Working from Millicent's own rediscovered letters and writings as well as newspapers and other historical sources, this innovative biographical work reveals a pioneer of the sky and beyond. On one hand it tells, for the first time, of a flyer who was also a businesswoman, small-scale property developer, golfer, student of Japanese at Sydney University and early motorist who had driven over 35,000 miles around New South Wales up to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko - and who could fix her own car to boot. On the other, it seeks to illuminate the inner story of a highly individual, modern woman whose life encompassed not only hidden romance, heartbreak and tragedy but also a spirit of change in the social, political and marital conventions of 20th century Australia.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Going above and beyond
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , vol. 25 no. 2 2021;
— Review of Beyond the Sky 2020 single work biography -
Balancing Act : A Forgotten Pioneer of Aviation
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 431 2021; (p. 56)
— Review of Beyond the Sky 2020 single work biography'Members of the general public are likely to recognise the names of some of the pioneering female aviators. There is of course Amelia Earhart, the American who became the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Here in Australia, many would recognise the name Nancy Bird Walton, who is known for gaining her pilot’s licence at the age of nineteen, as well as for helping to establish a flying medical service in regional New South Wales. But what of the Australian female aviator who is the subject of James Vicars’s début, Beyond the Sky: The passions of Millicent Bryant, aviator? Millicent Bryant (1878–1927) has largely passed into obscurity, but in her day she was a sensation. Vicars would like his great-grandmother to become once again a household name, celebrated for her achievement as the first woman in Australia – indeed, the first in the Commonwealth outside Britain – to gain a pilot’s licence.' (Introduction)
-
Balancing Act : A Forgotten Pioneer of Aviation
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 431 2021; (p. 56)
— Review of Beyond the Sky 2020 single work biography'Members of the general public are likely to recognise the names of some of the pioneering female aviators. There is of course Amelia Earhart, the American who became the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Here in Australia, many would recognise the name Nancy Bird Walton, who is known for gaining her pilot’s licence at the age of nineteen, as well as for helping to establish a flying medical service in regional New South Wales. But what of the Australian female aviator who is the subject of James Vicars’s début, Beyond the Sky: The passions of Millicent Bryant, aviator? Millicent Bryant (1878–1927) has largely passed into obscurity, but in her day she was a sensation. Vicars would like his great-grandmother to become once again a household name, celebrated for her achievement as the first woman in Australia – indeed, the first in the Commonwealth outside Britain – to gain a pilot’s licence.' (Introduction)
-
Going above and beyond
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , vol. 25 no. 2 2021;
— Review of Beyond the Sky 2020 single work biography
