Additional information
| Weight | 500 g |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 230 × 150 × 20 mm |
| Format | |
| Imprint | Boolarong Press |
| ISBN | 9781925877441 |
| Publication Year | 2020 |
| Page extent | 272 |
| Subject | Biography |
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When Chairmen Were Patriots
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Elizabeth Fysh
Fergus McMaster started with nothing and with his brothers built a sprawling pastoral empire in western Queensland.
Following his return from World War I, a chance meeting outside Cloncurry with Lieutenant Paul McGinness took him on a new path. With Lieutenant Hudson Fysh, the three men followed the young airmen’s dream of establishing an airline. McMaster knew it was never going to be easy. Aviation was still very much in its infancy.
McMaster threw his whole weight behind the enterprise, scouring the length and breadth of the country drumming up support. As the founding chairman of QANTAS he guided the infant airline with a steady hand through its most turbulent and colourful years of establishment, internationalisation, WW2 and ultimately the government take-over.
Always intensely patriotic, he saw his role in QANTAS as a service to the nation and took little in the way of fees or salary.
It is fitting in this centenary year of QANTAS to pay tribute to his legacy.
admin –
A man, a life, a vision taking flight – When Chairmen Were Patriots tells many vivid stories, but above all it is the tale of the Australian mid-Twentieth Century, when horizons were wide, a new nation was being built and every dream was achievable.
Nicholas Rothwell, retired journalist, foreign correspondent and author
admin –
Australian history is filled with inspiring stories and the birth and development of QANTAS is up there with the best. The biography of Sir Fergus McMaster, When Chairmen were Patriots, the Extraordinary Life and Times of the Founding Chairman of QANTAS, Fergus McMaster by Elizabeth Fysh, (Boolarong Press 2020) is an extremely worthwhile read.
QANTAS (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service) was the brainchild of three men – Fergus McMaster a prominent Western Queensland grazier and two World War I pilots, Paul McGinness and Hudson Fysh.
Elizabeth Fysh has achieved what many writer of history seem unable to do. She has penned an entertaining read. McMaster’s story rocks along from the family’s early Scottish history, through goldmining ventures to large pastoral holdings in Western Queensland, and onto some visionary dreams to conquer the tyranny of distance with aircraft.
The McMaster story covers the fledgling airline’s struggle to survive the great depression and its contribution to the World War II efforts, to QANTAS’ eventual nationalisation in the 1940s.
When Chairmen were Patriots is a great read written by a relative of one of the QANTAS founders. Fysh had access to family photos and records and has made a terrific job of putting this history down in a very readable format.
Jack Drake, author of multiple books and bush poet
admin –
It is the evolution of QANTAS to become Australia’s flag carrier to the world which forms the backdrop to this remarkable story, told so well by Betsy Fysh. It will resonate not only with so many people like myself who ‘have QANTAS blood in their veins’, but with all Australians.
Bruce Campbell AM MBE
admin –
Elizabeth Fysh is as close to the QANTAS story as anyone. She grew up on her parents’ property near Kyuna, birthplace of Banjo Paterson’s Waltizng Matilda, 150km from Winton. She and Frith ran outback stations and helped establish the award -winning QANTAS Founders Museum in Longreach.
Grantlee Kieza, The Courier Mail
Sally young (verified owner) –
A fascinating and well written story
Gives much joy to my 97 year old mum Jocelyn young nee Coar
She remembers the McMaster family with affection