Way back in 1928 it was decided that a growing city like Sydney needed a second airport.
Most of the inner west of Sydney at the time was semi-rural. A farm owned by the Johnson family was chosen. It had a relatively flat open area of grassland ideal for what they called an all-over aerodrome, no runways as such, just a nice big paddock. A tad prone to flooding from the Georges river that ran past it, making it unsuitable for urban development, but good enough. Aircraft at that time didn’t need much more. Planning for Bankstown airport however was put on hold until the outbreak of the second world war.
Bankstown Airport’s history really began in 1940 when Australia, fearing Japanese invasion, suddenly realised there were bugger all airports in the country from which air defence could be mounted. The Bankstown airfield project was proclaimed in June 1940 under the National security Act followed by resumption of the land in December 1940.
Bankstown Aerodrome during World War II remained an all-over-airfield, it was the main fighter base defending Sydney. Far enough from the coast to be outside the range of Japanese submarine gunfire, which also made it a relatively safe place to develop defence industries.
Development continued after the war, a 914-metre gravel runway was constructed in 1952, final configuration of three runways finished in 1963, Bankstown was expanding, Aircraft manufacturing, general aviation commercial operations and flying training making it the busiest Airport in the Southern hemisphere employing over 8000 people. In addition, thousands of highly skilled trades people and pilots received their training at Bankstown.
The de Havilland company produced Mosquito aircraft and parts from 1942, which continued after the war. It manufactured Australia's first jet fighter aircraft, the Vampire, from 1949 to 1960.
Later Hawker de Havilland produced aircraft, such as the PC9 Turbo-prop trainer for the RAAF, and the Blackhawk helicopter for the army. Until recently, parts for Boeing, Airbus Industries and McDonnell Douglas were manufactured tat Bankstown.
The kernel for a major industry was there, the skills required were there, the necessary airport was there, then we let it slip away. Today we are prepared to squander Billions to develop a ship building industry from scratch, producing vessels that are obsolete before they even start and positively antique by the time the last one is built.
We already had an aviation Industry, in the starting block, primed for development. It is incongruous to me that was thrown away by political ignorance, indifference and ineptitude. Apparently, aviation is not as important as boats, somewhat short-sighted I believe.
All those major players mentioned have now gone, with more to follow, driven away by monopoly development shark’s predatory behaviour. I believe history will show Australia will be poorer for it. During world war two Australia embarked on major airport construction all over the country as there were simply not enough so vital for our defence.
Today, once our airports are gone, their gone forever. In the current regional climate, we may live to regret allowing that to happen. If conflict once again faces Australia, we may just need every airport we can find as we did in 1940.
Bankstown Airport also held areas of environmental significance which contain vulnerable species including the downy wattle (Acacia pubescens). This species grows in dry, open sclerophyll forest, woodland and melaleuca scrub. The very rare and critically endangered species 'Hibbertia glabrescens', native to the Cumberland Plain, only remained in the Bankstown area and this semi-prostrate shrub had a population of less than 50 mature plants at the environs of Bankstown Airport.
I heard recently that the airport cut them all down, probably indicative of the Airports real attitude to the environment, they play lip service to it but in reality, they don’t give a damn further illustrated by tearing up a runway against safety advice, then covering a floodplain with contaminated fill to bring it above historic flood levels.
By way of perspective, airports in Australia, our airports, are seen as liabilities or ripe for development of non-aviation industry. In the United States, airports are powerful engines for economic opportunity in local communities, generating more than $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity and supporting nearly 11.5 million jobs.
Main Airports in the USA, 19,700 of them
![[Image: US-airports.jpg]](https://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/US-airports.jpg)
![[Image: US-GA-airports.jpg]](https://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/US-GA-airports.jpg)
Main Airports in Australia almost the same land mass, 613 of them
![[Image: Picture-1.jpeg]](https://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Picture-1.jpeg)
Bankstown’s decline began with the 1988 Civil Aviation Act which set in train a legislative Pogrom by the aviation regulator that severely impacted the viability of general aviation.
Airport privatisation, into the hands of monopolistic property development sharks further exacerbated the general aviation industries ability to remain financially viable. Red tape stifled innovation and development, predatory landlords stifled growth.
One cannot help but ponder why or how our ethos changed from utility and the pubic good, to profitability for billion dollar development sharks.
The public once owned our airport land, free of debt as it owns many other pieces of land set aside as open areas for the use of the public. Urban Parks, sports fields, boat ramps, National Parks all provided and publicly owned and funded for public use.
People who enjoy boating or fishing as a hobby require boat ramps to operate from. People who enjoy aviation as a hobby require airports to operate from. Australia builds some very fine boats but bugger all aircraft, overregulation of the industry sees to that.
Many of these free spaces are specified for use for a designated purpose, most are free to use, some carry a cost for use, such as National Park entry fees. None of these fees are based on the potential value of the land as freehold, nor the comparative cost of surrounding leasehold industrial real estate. Why is aviation any different?
Imagine if the cost of entry to Sydney’s Royal National Park was based on its intrinsic value as freehold real estate. Do national Parks run at a profit? I don’t think so, entry fees don’t even cover the cost of maintenance.
Why are the same principles quoted to justify the privatisation of airports not applied to national parks, leased to development sharks with free reign to charge what they like and bite off large chunks of “Surplus land” for industrial development to make massive profits squirreled away in offshore tax havens?
If this was so I imagine park entry fees would amount to thousands of dollars.
What would the value be of Centenary Park in Sydney as real estate? If this was the benchmark for user fees, people riding their horses would be paying a thousand a lap, dog walkers hundreds per dog poop, feeding the ducks ten bucks a hand full, all absurd analogies perhaps, but given the opportunity I doubt there would not be development sharks standing in line to buy the park lease knowing that by incrementally increasing the cost for utilising the park they could arrive at a point where so few could afford to use it, they could say hand on heart, the park is no longer viable, let us ramp up a few office towers, Oh and here's a nice political donation to sweeten the pot, could be a lucrative directorship in it as well.
Property Development sharks have a pretty checked history when it comes to probity, as do our government bodies who deal with them, an example can be found here (https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-to-l...dhg0y.html).
Our Airports were handed over the Property developers at bargain basement prices, three airports in the Sydney basin for around 250 million dollars, retrieved for the sale of just one, so two airports for free worth potentially billions.
It wasn’t just aviation that got screwed, the whole country did, as free hold industrial land I have seen estimates back in 2002 between 1.5 to 1.9 Billion dollars for Sydney’s secondary airports, it would be a whole lot more today.
I just cannot imagine the Bureaucrats who oversaw the whole process of the so-called airport privatisation process/fraud could be so inept, one could be forgiven for suspecting that some form of corruption featured somewhere in the mix.
The unintended consequence of Secondary Airport destruction:
Aviation is a truly fluid industry, highly technical by nature requiring highly skilled technicians to maintain it and access to airports to sustain it. Technical advances in aviation over the past decades have been truly astonishing and have had the greatest effect in improving safety.
Australia is not bereft of innovative minds and entrepreneurial spirit. Many great ideas and inventions in the aeronautical field have arisen in Australia. Unfortunately, most have been driven away by an inane regulatory regime. But who’s to say that something really revolutionary might arise in the mind of some young, passionate, Australian that could potentially be worth billions to the country’s economy, but off shored through lack of access.
By way of example of Australian success and innovation.
Way back in the 1960ies a Tasmanian fisherman by the name of Bob Clifford had an innovative idea for a boat. He was an amateur with no engineering qualification. Starting in his backyard he built prototypes and was often seen paddling about the Derwent river testing his ideas. His passion for the sea lead him to the idea of fast commuter ferries, developing much of the technology locally, his company Incat, researched and designed high-tech, high speed wave piercing catamarans, at one stage capturing more than 40% of the worlds high speed ferry market. Even the US Military purchased vessels from the company. In recognition of his incredible fortitude and skills Bob was awarded an honourable degree in engineering by the university of Tasmania.
To make his dream a reality Bob Clifford had access to a harbour at reasonable cost and access to a city population from which to draw his workforce.
What could have been:
There was a consortium of passionate aviators with a well-researched plan to offer to buy the two airports, Bankstown and Camden leases, for basically the original price paid for three airports, 250 Million Dollars which included Hoxton Park. Their idea was to Strata title the airport giving stakeholders the opportunity to buy an area on which to build, or buy an existing building, thereby gaining an asset and security of tenure. This Idea, if it had come to fruition, I believe would have reinvigorated the aviation industry and seen a massive increase in aviation participation.
Most of the inner west of Sydney at the time was semi-rural. A farm owned by the Johnson family was chosen. It had a relatively flat open area of grassland ideal for what they called an all-over aerodrome, no runways as such, just a nice big paddock. A tad prone to flooding from the Georges river that ran past it, making it unsuitable for urban development, but good enough. Aircraft at that time didn’t need much more. Planning for Bankstown airport however was put on hold until the outbreak of the second world war.
Bankstown Airport’s history really began in 1940 when Australia, fearing Japanese invasion, suddenly realised there were bugger all airports in the country from which air defence could be mounted. The Bankstown airfield project was proclaimed in June 1940 under the National security Act followed by resumption of the land in December 1940.
Bankstown Aerodrome during World War II remained an all-over-airfield, it was the main fighter base defending Sydney. Far enough from the coast to be outside the range of Japanese submarine gunfire, which also made it a relatively safe place to develop defence industries.
Development continued after the war, a 914-metre gravel runway was constructed in 1952, final configuration of three runways finished in 1963, Bankstown was expanding, Aircraft manufacturing, general aviation commercial operations and flying training making it the busiest Airport in the Southern hemisphere employing over 8000 people. In addition, thousands of highly skilled trades people and pilots received their training at Bankstown.
The de Havilland company produced Mosquito aircraft and parts from 1942, which continued after the war. It manufactured Australia's first jet fighter aircraft, the Vampire, from 1949 to 1960.
Later Hawker de Havilland produced aircraft, such as the PC9 Turbo-prop trainer for the RAAF, and the Blackhawk helicopter for the army. Until recently, parts for Boeing, Airbus Industries and McDonnell Douglas were manufactured tat Bankstown.
The kernel for a major industry was there, the skills required were there, the necessary airport was there, then we let it slip away. Today we are prepared to squander Billions to develop a ship building industry from scratch, producing vessels that are obsolete before they even start and positively antique by the time the last one is built.
We already had an aviation Industry, in the starting block, primed for development. It is incongruous to me that was thrown away by political ignorance, indifference and ineptitude. Apparently, aviation is not as important as boats, somewhat short-sighted I believe.
All those major players mentioned have now gone, with more to follow, driven away by monopoly development shark’s predatory behaviour. I believe history will show Australia will be poorer for it. During world war two Australia embarked on major airport construction all over the country as there were simply not enough so vital for our defence.
Today, once our airports are gone, their gone forever. In the current regional climate, we may live to regret allowing that to happen. If conflict once again faces Australia, we may just need every airport we can find as we did in 1940.
Bankstown Airport also held areas of environmental significance which contain vulnerable species including the downy wattle (Acacia pubescens). This species grows in dry, open sclerophyll forest, woodland and melaleuca scrub. The very rare and critically endangered species 'Hibbertia glabrescens', native to the Cumberland Plain, only remained in the Bankstown area and this semi-prostrate shrub had a population of less than 50 mature plants at the environs of Bankstown Airport.
I heard recently that the airport cut them all down, probably indicative of the Airports real attitude to the environment, they play lip service to it but in reality, they don’t give a damn further illustrated by tearing up a runway against safety advice, then covering a floodplain with contaminated fill to bring it above historic flood levels.
By way of perspective, airports in Australia, our airports, are seen as liabilities or ripe for development of non-aviation industry. In the United States, airports are powerful engines for economic opportunity in local communities, generating more than $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity and supporting nearly 11.5 million jobs.
Main Airports in the USA, 19,700 of them
Main Airports in Australia almost the same land mass, 613 of them
Bankstown’s decline began with the 1988 Civil Aviation Act which set in train a legislative Pogrom by the aviation regulator that severely impacted the viability of general aviation.
Airport privatisation, into the hands of monopolistic property development sharks further exacerbated the general aviation industries ability to remain financially viable. Red tape stifled innovation and development, predatory landlords stifled growth.
One cannot help but ponder why or how our ethos changed from utility and the pubic good, to profitability for billion dollar development sharks.
The public once owned our airport land, free of debt as it owns many other pieces of land set aside as open areas for the use of the public. Urban Parks, sports fields, boat ramps, National Parks all provided and publicly owned and funded for public use.
People who enjoy boating or fishing as a hobby require boat ramps to operate from. People who enjoy aviation as a hobby require airports to operate from. Australia builds some very fine boats but bugger all aircraft, overregulation of the industry sees to that.
Many of these free spaces are specified for use for a designated purpose, most are free to use, some carry a cost for use, such as National Park entry fees. None of these fees are based on the potential value of the land as freehold, nor the comparative cost of surrounding leasehold industrial real estate. Why is aviation any different?
Imagine if the cost of entry to Sydney’s Royal National Park was based on its intrinsic value as freehold real estate. Do national Parks run at a profit? I don’t think so, entry fees don’t even cover the cost of maintenance.
Why are the same principles quoted to justify the privatisation of airports not applied to national parks, leased to development sharks with free reign to charge what they like and bite off large chunks of “Surplus land” for industrial development to make massive profits squirreled away in offshore tax havens?
If this was so I imagine park entry fees would amount to thousands of dollars.
What would the value be of Centenary Park in Sydney as real estate? If this was the benchmark for user fees, people riding their horses would be paying a thousand a lap, dog walkers hundreds per dog poop, feeding the ducks ten bucks a hand full, all absurd analogies perhaps, but given the opportunity I doubt there would not be development sharks standing in line to buy the park lease knowing that by incrementally increasing the cost for utilising the park they could arrive at a point where so few could afford to use it, they could say hand on heart, the park is no longer viable, let us ramp up a few office towers, Oh and here's a nice political donation to sweeten the pot, could be a lucrative directorship in it as well.
Property Development sharks have a pretty checked history when it comes to probity, as do our government bodies who deal with them, an example can be found here (https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-to-l...dhg0y.html).
Our Airports were handed over the Property developers at bargain basement prices, three airports in the Sydney basin for around 250 million dollars, retrieved for the sale of just one, so two airports for free worth potentially billions.
It wasn’t just aviation that got screwed, the whole country did, as free hold industrial land I have seen estimates back in 2002 between 1.5 to 1.9 Billion dollars for Sydney’s secondary airports, it would be a whole lot more today.
I just cannot imagine the Bureaucrats who oversaw the whole process of the so-called airport privatisation process/fraud could be so inept, one could be forgiven for suspecting that some form of corruption featured somewhere in the mix.
The unintended consequence of Secondary Airport destruction:
Aviation is a truly fluid industry, highly technical by nature requiring highly skilled technicians to maintain it and access to airports to sustain it. Technical advances in aviation over the past decades have been truly astonishing and have had the greatest effect in improving safety.
Australia is not bereft of innovative minds and entrepreneurial spirit. Many great ideas and inventions in the aeronautical field have arisen in Australia. Unfortunately, most have been driven away by an inane regulatory regime. But who’s to say that something really revolutionary might arise in the mind of some young, passionate, Australian that could potentially be worth billions to the country’s economy, but off shored through lack of access.
By way of example of Australian success and innovation.
Way back in the 1960ies a Tasmanian fisherman by the name of Bob Clifford had an innovative idea for a boat. He was an amateur with no engineering qualification. Starting in his backyard he built prototypes and was often seen paddling about the Derwent river testing his ideas. His passion for the sea lead him to the idea of fast commuter ferries, developing much of the technology locally, his company Incat, researched and designed high-tech, high speed wave piercing catamarans, at one stage capturing more than 40% of the worlds high speed ferry market. Even the US Military purchased vessels from the company. In recognition of his incredible fortitude and skills Bob was awarded an honourable degree in engineering by the university of Tasmania.
To make his dream a reality Bob Clifford had access to a harbour at reasonable cost and access to a city population from which to draw his workforce.
What could have been:
There was a consortium of passionate aviators with a well-researched plan to offer to buy the two airports, Bankstown and Camden leases, for basically the original price paid for three airports, 250 Million Dollars which included Hoxton Park. Their idea was to Strata title the airport giving stakeholders the opportunity to buy an area on which to build, or buy an existing building, thereby gaining an asset and security of tenure. This Idea, if it had come to fruition, I believe would have reinvigorated the aviation industry and seen a massive increase in aviation participation.