I vividly recall as an eight-year-old freckle-faced school boy flying with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.

The year was 1934. The occasion was Smithy's acceptance of an invitation to the central Victorian township of Donald by my father, then Shire President Cr David Dunstan, pictured with Smithy. The unforgettable 30-minute flight took us over Lake Buloke surrounded by Wimmera-Mallee wheatlands, in his famous Southern Cross plane.

I remember Smithy as a dominant, affable personality of robust physique and wavy silver hair, not unlike that of former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke.

My eager anticipation knew no bounds as that tiny speck, the Southern Cross, loomed large on the horizon.

We took off on the clay-bound shores of Lake Buloke. What an exhilerating experience. With Dad as our town's eminent "first citizen" I had the edge on other Cope Cope (in the Donald district) children for a primitive priority "seat" on the cockpit floor with Smithy at the helm.

The ill-fated aviator was to vanish forever the following year, 1935. Remnants of the Southern Cross wing were located in the Bay of Bengal.

As an avid reader of the Courier-Mail since arriving in Queensland in 1982, I thought the picture would be of interest to your readers.

Stuart Dunstan, 76
Newmarket, Brisbane