Millicent Bryant
| Millicent Bryant | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1927 |
| Occupation | Aviator |
Millicent Maude Bryant (née Harvey, 8 January 1878 – 3 November 1927) was an Australian aviator, the first woman to earn a pilot's license in Australia, in 1927.
Early life
Bryant was born at Apsley, Wellington, New South Wales. Her parents were Edmund George Harvey and Georgiana Sarah Bartlett Harvey. She was one of ten children.[1]
Career
In March 1927, at age 49, Bryant earned a pilot's license from the Australian Aero Club of New South Wales. She was the first woman to qualify for a private pilot's license in Australia.[2][3][4][5]
Personal life
Bryant was married to Edward James Bryant. They had three sons (born 1901, 1903, and 1908). She was widowed in 1926.[6]
Bryant died by drowning in Sydney Harbour in 1927, aged 49 years, one of the victims of the Tahiti-Greycliffe Ferry disaster.[7] Five planes flew over her funeral and dropped a flower wreath in tribute.[8] Her leather flying helmet is in the collection of the National Library of Australia.[9]
In 2001, Millicent Bryant was inducted into the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame. In 2007, to mark the 80th anniversary of her pilot's license, an official plaque was attached to her tombstone by the Australian Women Pilots' Association.[10]
References
- ↑ "Mr. E. G. Harvey" Sydney Morning Herald (17 July 1933): 6. via Trove
- ↑ "Millicent Bryant – Australia", Centennial of Women Pilots.
- ↑ "First Woman Air Pilot" Tweed Daily (6 April 1927): 4. via Trove
- ↑ Powerhouse Museum (2000), Women with wings : images of Australian women pilots, Powerhouse Museum, Ideas in Action, retrieved 12 December 2016
- ↑ Mann, Sheila; Australia. Department of Aviation (1986), The girls were up there too : Australian women in aviation, Australian Government Publishing Service, ISBN 978-0-644-04154-6
- ↑ "Mr. E. J. Bryant" Sydney Morning Herald (16 February 1926): 12. via Trove
- ↑ "First Woman Aviator: Mrs. M. M. Bryant" Sydney Morning Herald (5 November 1927): 18. via Trove
- ↑ "Late Mrs. M. M. Bryant; Wreath from the Air" Wellington Times (10 November 1927): 13. via Trove
- ↑ Aviator's flying cap worn by Millicent Bryant, 1926, retrieved 12 December 2016
- ↑ Millicent Bryant plaque, Monument Australia.
External links
- Millicent Bryant at Find a Grave
- 1927 portrait of a smiling Millicent Harvey, in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum
- J. B. Vicars, "Flights of Imagination: Fictional biography and writing the life of Australia's first woman Pilot, Millicent Bryant" (PhD dissertation, University of New England 2014).