75th anniversary of the Canberra Air Disaster

On 13 August 1940 an RAAF Lockheed Hudson aircraft crashed near the Canberra aerodrome, killing all passengers and crew on board. This crash was to have a significant impact on the Australian government as the passengers on board included three cabinet ministers: Geoffrey Street, Minister for the Army and Repatriation; James Fairbairn, Minster for Air and Civil Aviation; and Sir Henry Gullett, Minister of Scientific and Industrial Research. Also killed was General Sir Cyril Brudenell White, Chief of the General Staff. The deaths of the three ministers severely weakened Robert Menzies’s United Australia Party (UAP) and contributed to its fall in 1941.

As the air crash took place only a month before the September 1940 federal election, no by-elections were held. Sir Henry Gullet’s seat of Henty was lost to Arthur Coles, one of two independents now holding the balance of power in the House of Representatives. In October 1941 both independents crossed the floor in a no-confidence motion against the UAP, and in doing so installed John Curtin of the Australian Labor Party as prime minster.

An armed RAAF guard was placed on the main road and near the scene of the crash, to protect the aircraft’s contents, including personal possessions and classified documents, from the many sightseers who rushed to the scene of the disaster.  

For more information on the Canberra Air Disaster and Canberra's Military Heritage

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Last Post ceremony story: General Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White, Chief of the General Staff

Brudenell White was the son of Irish migrants Warren and Maria [pron. Ma – rye - ah] White. He was born on the 23rd of September 1876 in St Arnaud, Victoria, and at the age of five his family moved to Queensland. His father worked on a number of pastoral stations around Gympie, Charters Towers, and Gladstone, but financial ruin forced the family to move to Brisbane within a few years. White went to Brisbane Central Boys’ School, and an older brother later worked to pay for Brudenell to attend Eton Preparatory School for a year.

White left school with a prize in shorthand, which helped him get work as a bank clerk at the age of 16. From then on he paid his own way, including for a personal tutor to help him to continue his studies at night. White had ambitions of becoming a barrister, but instead found a career in the army. He first served with the 2nd Queensland Regiment, transferring to the Queensland Regiment of the Royal Australian Artillery in 1899. He saw brief service in South Africa in 1902, and later became the first Australian representative at the British Army Staff College in Camberley. He spent a number of years in Britain, at one point being seconded to the War Office.

Brudenell White was a keenly intelligent man who could quickly grasp any problem, either organisational or tactical. It was said that he would understand a question in “one illuminating flash” and be working on a solution while other men were still painfully accumulating the facts. He returned to Australia in 1912 to take up the post of Director of Military Operations in Melbourne, and began working on plans for common action with New Zealand in the event of war.

In July 1914 White was made acting Chief of the General Staff, and when war was declared one month later he was called on to put his plans into action. He was appointed the first Chief of Staff of the Australian Imperial Force, and was instrumental in its creation. He worked on plans for the landing of the 1st Australian Division on Gallipoli, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his work in reorganising a force badly muddled in the confusion of the landing.

In October 1915 White was promoted to brigadier general, serving under Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood. He was instrumental in the success of the evacuation of Anzac, and later in the expansion of the AIF.

White continued as Birdwood’s chief of staff through much of the AIF’s time on the Western Front. His skill was crucial in the creation of tactical plans and operations, and in supply and movement both in and out of the line. At the end of the war White was involved in the demobilisation and repatriation of the AIF.

After the war White was involved in reorganising the military forces, served as chairman of the Commonwealth Public Service Board, and later worked on the problems of reconstruction after the economic depression.

Brudenell White was again called to his country’s service as Chief of the General Staff in March 1940. On the 13th of August 1940 White was on an aircraft travelling from Melbourne to Canberra with three federal ministers. The aircraft crashed near the Canberra airport, killing all on board.

General Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White once said: “I would rather remain a sergeant in the Australian Army than be a Field Marshal in any other.” He died in the service of his country at the age of 73.

Sources:

• Australian Dictionary of Biography
• “Sir Brudenell White: biographical sketch”, Daily Mercury, 6 April 1940, p. 11.
• “Obituaries: Sir Brudenell White”, Cairns Post, 14 August 1940, p. 4.
• Adelaide Register, 9 May 1927, p. 9.
• “Sir Brudenell White”, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 August 1939, p. 11.

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