Qantas Empire Airways Ltd Hangar, Darwin
22 MacDonald Street, Parap, Northern Territory
As part of their tender for the Brisbane to Singapore route, Qantas proposed to construct a new hangar at Darwin, as part of what would become known as, the Ross Smith Aerodrome. The plan for the hangar was closely modelled on the No1 hangar at Brisbane’s Archerfield Aerodrome. The building, a pre-fabricated steel frame Comet building from the Sidney Williams workshops, was purchased and built for the sum of £6,114. Construction took four months and the hangar was completed by early August 1934, with the wall and roof cladding installed by the end of that year.
The hangar was part of a complex of buildings that included an Administrative building and a Caretaker’s cottage, which were completed in 1935. These buildings were in close proximity to the airstrip, on the site of the present day Ross Smith Avenue.
