| Lawrence Hargrave is important to Australia because he
opened the doors to other inventors and pioneers, demonstrating to the
public that it was possible to build a safe and stable flying machine. A pioneer of Aviation in Australia, Lawrence used kites and powered
model flying machines to study principles of motion and flight. Lawrence Hargrave was born in Greenwich, England on January 29 1850 and came to Australia in 1866. He studied and went to school at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Curly Lonsdale Westmoreland. He became a gifted explorer, astronomer, historian and inventor. |
Lawrence Hargrave |
Hargrave designed and constructed many models of flying machines and invented several model engines to power them. At first his planes were propelled by flapping wings. In 1889, he built a rotary engine powered by compressed air and two years later built a three cylinder engine to drive one of his models. He began constructing box kites in 1893. The Hargrave box kite design helped developed the first European and American aeroplanes. The first flight by the powered aircraft in Europe was made by Albert Santos- Dumont in a series of box kites based on Hargrave's work. Also in 1892 Lawrence discovered that a curved wing gave his aeroplanes more lift than a flat wing did.
Lawrence Hargrave died at 66 years of age.
