From inland Victoria to the coast of far north Queensland, three female pilots are set to embark on an incredible challenge following the trail of explorers Burke and Wills.
Theresa MacDonald, Amanda Deed, and Delia Jones, who all trained at Lilydale Flying School, are jetting off in early December to attempt to complete the trail by air between dawn and dusk.
It’s all part of the International Dawn to Dusk Competition, primarily a northern hemisphere challenge, but something the three women hope to encourage more Australians to participate in.
This next challenge will mark the third for Theresa and the second for both Amanda and Delia.
Leaving from Melbourne and following the route of Burke and Wills, through the central parts of New South Wales and outback Queensland, they intend to arrive at Karumba, in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The whole trip is 2518 kilometres.
But the team, named Ships of the Desert, have factored in several contingency plans given the differences in climate, especially the unpredictability of the northern Queensland monsoon season.
“We’re now heading into the wet season. So ideally, in the wet season, you want to fly in the morning, but because we’re starting off down here, we won’t get there until the afternoon,” Theresa said.
“We’ve got contingency plans in case. If we don’t make it up there in a day, then we’ll probably get there the second day, and we’ll do it in reverse. That’s plan B.”
Amanda, who previously worked in central Australia and has now flown all over the world, said the outback flights provide a different set of challenges they have to consider.
“Any flight you do, where you go somewhere that’s unfamiliar to you as a pilot, in terms of flying, and especially like those more outback places as well, where there’s less chances of diversions and things like that, obviously, we have many, many contingency plans if we need to divert, but a lot more thinking and planning goes into how to actually navigate in those areas, and we will take our paper maps with us as well,” she said.
There were several reasons for choosing this trip, but a few standout points did influence the decision.
“It being linked to England with the actual Dawn to Dusk Competition coming from England, and the original explorers from there,” Amanda said.
“And then doing that outback exploration, and getting from south to north and finding that inland way that so many others either failed to do or didn’t get as far, or different areas and things like that, it’s quite interesting.”
Delia had also already begun researching the Burke and Wills trek for a potential book, making it a perfect fit to not only link Delia’s writing but also satisfy the criteria of the competition.
So far, her research has explored the towns that were there at the time, and those that came later, but also the story of the dig tree.
“There are so many interesting things about the little outback towns, and it would be so good to get people to visit these towns as tourists,” she said.
“The dig tree is where they came back to and found the people who were meant to be waiting for them had left in the morning of that same day. They were almost dying of starvation, and when they headed on towards Innamincka, Burke died, and Wills died.
“(John) King was looked after by the Aboriginals, which was very, very good, and then rescued a few months later by another explorer coming to find him. The dig tree is amazing. They were here, and all the suffering they went through.”
King lived with the Yandruwandha people, who saved his life using their knowledge of the land and natural remedies, for three months.
Of course, the beauty of the landscape and the contrast from the air were also deciding factors when choosing this route.
“It’s just seeing that beautiful aspect of going from Victoria into New South Wales and then into Queensland, and I love the red dirt,” Amanda said.
“I would probably say not a lot has changed, aside from the townships, and perhaps the river systems of outback Queensland, which had the floods earlier in the year as well.
“So the landscape will be looking quite different, no matter what time of year you fly, but certainly more washouts I’m expecting we’ll see from the air, but maybe a bit more green too.”
A hugely important aspect for these women when doing these flight challenges is fundraising for a cause.
Because of the large outback expanse the team will fly over, they have chosen Outback Futures as their charity.
Outback Futures supports the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people, adults, families, and entire communities living and working in rural and remote locations, where support services are few and far between.
Amanda said the impact of the floods in Queensland and the everyday challenges of living rurally, like the isolation from larger townships, helped set the target of $10,000 for Outback Futures.
Their message: Your donation will support real change, real support, and real hope in the outback. Support the Ships of the Desert mission. Fuel the flight. Change lives.
As of Friday 14 November, the team had raised over $4000 for the cause. To support Ships of the Desert, go to: gofundme.com/f/Ships-of-the-Desert
To find out more about Outback Futures, visit: outbackfutures.org.au
