History of the Connellan Hangar
In 1938, Eddie (often called ‘E.J.’) Connellan flew from Essendon Airport in Melbourne to the Northern Territory to survey the region for its grazing and aviation possibilities. When he reported his findings to the federal authority, the then Minister for the Interior, John McEwan, asked Connellan to start an aerial mail run throughout the Territory. Connellan agreed and invited his brother, Vin, and friends, Fred and Geoff O’Keefe, to join him and help with the development of the new air service.
The location chosen by Connellan for the hangar and base for his operations was west of the town at the Townsite Aerodrome. In the decades of the 1920s and 1930s, many famous pioneer aviators landed there including Kingsford-Smith, Ulm, Anderson, Hitchcock, Easton, Cootes, Hall, Lord Semphill, Melrose, Bertram, Purvis and others.
The hangar was a Sidney Williams pre-fabricated structure brought disassembled to Alice Springs from Sydney in 1939. Eddie, Vin, and the O’Keefe brothers formed the main construction team assisted by Big Foot Andy, an Aboriginal labourer. The men were young and high-spirited and obviously enjoyed their life in the Centre. When Sam Calder and Damien Miller arrived at Alice Springs they received a very hospitable welcome from the locals. The men building the hangar, although relatively inexperienced at building, were paid wages of £4 per week, and local builder, Jack Donnellan, is reputed to have taken one look at the finished building and burst out laughing. The hangar’s construction was soon tested, however, when shortly after its completion a violent storm, with winds at over 120 miles per hour passed through the area. While the hangar survived intact, many other local buildings were not so lucky.
The first Connellan flight out of the Town Aerodrome took place in July 1939 when Connellan flew the mail run to Wyndham in Western Australia.
By early 1940, the hangar and workshops at Alice Springs were finished. Throughout the period of the hangar’s construction all aircraft and engine servicing had to be undertaken outside in the heat of the Alice summer season. The hangar, when it was completed, provided some relief from the extremes of the Centralian climate. The building was constructed with a steel frame and roof trusses, with a barrel roof and clad with corrugated galvanized iron. The original floor was made of ‘antbed’ (pulverised termite mound) and later asphalted with colas. The side walls of the basic semi-circular shape were constructed of masonry block with large sliding doors on the front of the building. Attached office space on either side of the main hangar was originally used as the radio room and operations base and as well as the airport’s terminal.
Almost immediately, Connellan found that he required more room for his operations and had prudently included plans for extensions. The walls on the back and two sides were cunningly constructed so that they could be hinged to become the roof of an extension and this was done all the way around the building. This provided considerably more space for the workshops, store, offices and toilets.
Connellan hoped to live on the property and Beni Burnett designed a house which became known as Araluen, named after Connellan’s boyhood home in Victoria. The Araluen homestead was originally planned in an interesting and elaborate design of which only part was ever constructed. The original design featured a chapel, three main wings which enclosed a colonnaded court and a fourth side pergola but only one wing was ever finished. Steve Kilgariff was the builder and the homestead was begun in 1948. Even so, Araluen was reasonably extensive with three sleepout bedrooms, internal bedroom, sitting room, dining room, kitchen and lounge. In addition Connellan also built a gardener’s cottage and small flat for staff use. At its peak, Araluen had an extensive garden, two tennis courts and the first private swimming pool in Alice Springs (the remains of which can be still seen today). The small green building west of the homestead is the remains of one of the original airport workshops that was later converted into a residence. The homestead today is a private residence.
In 1957, the Alice Springs Gliding Club was established at the Townsite Aerodrome. During the decade of the 1960s the population of Alice Springs had doubled from under 5,000 to over 11,000. The need to release more land for housing meant pressure on the land surrounding the Town Aerodrome. The first portion of stage one of the new subdivision was completed in 1964 and, for a time, the aerodrome and the new Gillen housing development coexisted and the road that ran past the airstrip carried the sign Beware of taxiing aircraft.
The building remained the base for all Connellan operations in the region until June 1968 but by 1977, with the encroachment of the Alice Springs development, the site was derelict.
Bill Kinsman, a local business man, had been attempting to establish an aviation museum in Alice Springs since 1966. During the early 1970s Kinsman started negotiations for the Connellan hangar. Following a suicide flight at the Alice Springs Airport in January 1977 when, among others, Connellan’s son was killed, a voluntary committee was formed and work began on the renovation of the old Town Aerodrome site.
Kinsman approached senior staff at Connair and a meeting was arranged. Among the prime movers was then Alice Springs Mayor, Leslie Oldfield, Sam Calder, Damien Miller, all of whom once worked for Connellan Airways, Connair manager Stephen Marshall and the company’s chief pilot and operations manager, Captain George Taylor. A steering committee was formed which focussed its efforts on fundraising and on 19 February 1978 the first Annual General Meeting of the Central Australian Aviation Museums (Inc) (CAAM) was held with Kinsman elected foundation President.
On 20 May 1979, the CAAM was opened at the Connellan Hangar with exhibitions of aviation history including aircraft, engines, components, photographs and papers. In 1980 the Alice Springs Town Council funded a display, the Ayers Rock Diorama.
In March 1984 the building and some of the CAAM collection became a part of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT). The Northern Territory government provided funding for further renovations as part of a commitment to restore the site as a whole. In 1987, two large evaporative air conditioners were installed through the rear wall of the hangar. In 1989 the painting of the hangar facade and refurbishment of the Connellan Airways sign was carried out. In 1998, the Connellan Hangar, along with other surrounding buildings, became a part of the Araluen Cultural Precinct.
