Butler, Harry

Henry Butler was born on 9 November, 1889 at Yorketown, South Australia. Growing up on the family farm, he loved to read the story of the Wright brothers' first flight, and was fascinated with flying. He became friendly with a local engineer, Carl Wittber, helping him to construct his own plane.

Harry was keen to join the airforce, but his lack of education was a stumbling block. Determined to fly, he paid to enlist in the British Royal Flying Corps, where he became a mechanic. However, it soon became clear that he had enough knowledge and experience to be a pilot. He became an instructor and was involved in aerial combat in France, wounded twice during the First World War. The concept of air mail grew from Butler dropping messages from the air at the front. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1918.

After the war, Harry returned to Australia and formed the Harry J Butler & Kauper Aviation Company with his friend, Harry Kauper. The company operated from a hanger at Northfield and was the first to carry mail by air oversea in Australia. Harry took the first aerial photograph of Adelaide, conducted aerobatic displays, and gave people, including the Governor, joyrides over the city. In 1920 he took part in the New Year's Day festivities at Victor Harbor and won Australia's first Aerial Derby held in Adelaide.

As the public interest in aerial stunts declined, so did Harry Butler’s business and in 1921 his company closed down. He continued to work on his own, but after a crash near Minlaton in 1922, his flying career was brought to a halt. He was badly wounded in the crash and never recovered fully. He started up a new business, but died in 1924 from a cerebral abscess.

Thousands of people lined King William Street for his funeral parade, his coffin resting on a gun carriage on its way to the North Road Cemetery. Harry was survived by his wife, whom he had married in 1920. Elsa Butler started out as a teacher but after Harry’s death she became a nurse and midwife, having a long career as a nurse during the Second World War and then in Adelaide.