The Flying Kangaroo: A Loquacious History of Qantas and the Queen of the Skies

by Christopher O'Keeffe May 16, 2025

Chapter One: QANTAS Begins in a Shed With Flies and Hope
Back in 1920, when Australia had more kangaroos than paved roads, two bush pilots and a Scottish mechanic in Longreach⁽¹⁾ decided aviation was the future. Probably while swatting flies and discussing sheep transport.

Thus was born the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, a name so long it sounds like a legal firm for birds.

⁽¹⁾ Fun fact: the original Qantas office was a tin shed. It had one typewriter, one desk, and enough dust to be considered a second employee.

Chapter Two: Planes With Canvas Wings and Glorious Optimism
Early Qantas flights used planes like the Avro 504K, which looked like a picnic bench with ambitions. You sat in it, hoped the engine agreed, and took to the skies over landscapes where "emergency landing" meant "let's meet a camel."

The airline grew by connecting the outback, delivering mail, passengers, and eventually the occasional sheepdog.

Chapter Three: Imperial Entanglements and Two-Sun Rises
In the 1930s, Qantas teamed up with Imperial Airways to fly the Kangaroo Route to London. It took twelve and a half days, 31 stops, eight hotel stays, and likely one nervous breakdown per passenger. But they got there.

During WWII, Qantas flew daring missions—including the famous Double Sunrise Flights, which took 30+ hours and involved no radios (to avoid Japanese detection) and no in-flight movies (to avoid joy).

Qantas set a still-unbroken record with its Catalina flying boats, operating the longest commercial non-stop flights of the era. Comfort was… theoretical.

Chapter Four: The Jet Age & Smoking in Style
By the 1950s and '60s, Qantas had jet fever. The Boeing 707 made its debut, cutting travel time and ushering in an era where you could cross oceans and still be home before your steak went off.

Smoking onboard was not only allowed—it was basically a requirement. Whole sections of aircraft smelled like cigar lounges with seatbelts.

Flight attendants wore designer uniforms. You got beef or chicken. And champagne. And probably a fondue set.

Chapter Five: Enter the Queen – The Boeing 747
In 1971, Qantas welcomed its first Boeing 747-238B, affectionately known as the "Jumbo Jet." It was a game-changer, a cloud-straddling behemoth with two decks, four engines, and a flight range that made maps weep.

The first Qantas 747 was named "City of Canberra", which confused international passengers into thinking it might fly slower for budget reasons. It didn't.

The 747 was roomy, luxurious (for its time), and gave Australians something they didn't previously have: affordable international travel that didn't involve 43 stopovers and a layover in Tehran.

Important 747 Moments:
1989: Qantas flew a Boeing 747-400 non-stop from London to Sydney, setting a world record at the time for the longest unrefuelled commercial flight: 17,000+ km in 20 hours and 9 minutes. No passengers, but lots of fuel and probably a nervous engineer whispering to the fuel gauges the whole way.

The 747 also rescued citizens from war zones, delivered Olympic teams, and flew millions of Australians to Bali, London, and destinations they'd later claim they visited "for the culture."

The plane's iconic spiral staircase to the upper deck was once the place to be—think of it as the Studio 54 of aviation, but with more turbulence and duty-free Scotch.

Qantas even operated special 747 joy flights during retirement, where nostalgic fans booked out seats just to fly in a big circle over Sydney. In what other industry do people pay to go nowhere?

Chapter Six: Farewell, Majesty
In July 2020, Qantas retired its final 747 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The last plane, VH-OEJ "Wunala", made a dramatic flight path in the shape of a kangaroo⁽²⁾ on flight trackers before heading off to the Mojave Desert. Australia wept. Aviation nerds sobbed. Baggage handlers saluted.

⁽²⁾ That's right: a literal kangaroo outline in the sky. Your last GPS route was not this poetic.

Chapter Seven: Now We Have Wi-Fi and Existential Dread
Qantas now flies the sleek Dreamliner 787, and there are plans for Project Sunrise—future flights from Sydney to London and New York, non-stop, with flatbeds, mood lighting, and presumably therapy dogs.

But despite the tech, the 747 remains the emotional favourite. Ask any Qantas pilot what plane they loved flying most, and they'll pause, look wistfully into the middle distance, and whisper "…the Jumbo."

Qantas and the 747: One gave us wings. The other gave us more wings, stairs, and a global identity.

The Flying Kangaroo might be riding Dreamliners now, but deep in Australia's aviation soul, there's always a seat upstairs in the 747 lounge, where the peanuts were salty, the carpet was orange, and life felt just a bit more grand.

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