Aviation Pioneer Nancy-Bird Walton Laid to Rest in Sydney

Commemorative medals from the Australia Day 1990, The Queen's Birthday 1966, The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Queen Elizabeth 1937, George VI and the 2001 Centenary of Federation are seen on the casket of the late Nancy Bird-Walton AO OBE during her State Funeral at St Andrew's Cathedral on 21 January 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Bird-Walton was the youngest Australian woman ever to gain her pilot's license at the age of 19. She died of natural causes on 13 January at the age of 93.

21 January 2009

Reported by Mark Tobin

ASHLEY HALL: She was a woman who guided her family with the grace of a glider and the determination of a jet fighter.

That's how Nancy-Bird Walton's granddaughter described the aviation pioneer at a state funeral in Sydney today. The 93-year-old died at her Sydney home last week. Among the tributes, a fly-over by a new Airbus A380 named in her honour.

PM's Mark Tobin was among the mourners.

(MUSIC: "Amazing Grace")

MARK TOBIN: Hundreds of mourners at Sydney's St Andrews Cathedral bowed their heads in tribute to the woman who became Australia's first female commercial pilot at the age of 19.

A large picture of Nancy-Bird Walton was projected onto a screen above a casket draped in the Australian flag. The medals she's been awarded through her long life sat on top of the coffin, a reminder of her passion for community service.

It was a passion her granddaughter Anna Holman described as infectious.

ANNA HOLMAN: A dearly loved member of our family who led us with the grace of a glider and the determination of a jet fighter.

MARK TOBIN: Nancy-Bird Walton began flying as a teenager, getting lessons from another aviation great, Charles Kingsford Smith.

Her first job as a commercial pilot was flying nurses and patients around far western New South Wales. She later founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association.

As an inspiration to generations of female pilots, the National Trust named Nancy-Bird Walton as a Living Treasure in 1997. Her long-time friend and fellow aviator Dick Smith told the service while Nancy-Bird Walton was a pioneer, she also had an eye to the future of aviation.

DICK SMITH: Whenever I appeared on television or I was quoted about my frustrations and the lack of reform and the way it was damaging general aviation, Nancy would be on the phone "Dick, what can I do? Who can I write to?".

MARK TOBIN: Before today's church service, the new Qantas A380 bearing Nancy-Bird Walton's name flew low over Sydney Harbour, the CBD and the cathedral as a tribute.

In September Nancy-Bird Walton attended a naming ceremony for the jet.

NANCY-BIRD WALTON: Qantas announced that it would name this magnificent aircraft after me at my 90th birthday nearly three years ago. And I made it my business to stay alive, and not just for today's ceremony, and I've made it. And I've made it.

MARK TOBIN: Elyse Fordham has been a Qantas pilot for 20 years. She says Nancy-Bird Walton was someone she looked up to.

ELYCE FORDHAM: I've met her a few times and I think she was an inspiration to all female pilots actually, with her passion and spirit for flying.

MARK TOBIN: But it's not just those with their head in the clouds who drew inspiration from the first lady of flight. The New South Wales Governor Marie Bashir says she was an inspiration for all Australians.

MARIE BASHIR: She was a soaring spirit in every way and anyone who met her would never forget her. She belongs to Australian history without a doubt.

ASHLEY HALL: The NSW Governor Marie Bashir ending that report from Mark Tobin.

Further Reading:
Nancy-Bird Walton's funeral on Wednesday