The Aviatrix, Cover of The Queenslander Pictorial, 1936

Heavier than Air: From first heavier-than-air manned flights, to a dawn of modern aviation.

Published between 1866 and 1939, The Queenslander was the weekly summary of the Brisbane Courier (now The Courier Mail) newspaper. This weekly edition enabled the news to be distributed to the regional and outlying areas of the state. About State Library of Queensland, Australia Located in Brisbane, Australia, the State Library of Queensland’s mission is to collect, preserve and make accessible the state’s documentary heritage. The State Library holds approximately 1.5 million photographic resources – negatives, slides, original photographs, copy prints and original albums dating back to the birth of the State of Queensland in 1859 to the present day. In 2003, the State Library launched its digital image library, Picture Queensland, with 6 000 images and now provides online access to more than 50 000 historical and contemporary images. A selection of beautifully illustrated covers from the 1920s-1930s are shown here. Some drawings depict the daily life of Queenslanders during this time while others highlight local and national events.

Élisabeth Thible flew above Lyon, France in 1784. Jeanne Labrosse became the first woman to parachute. Sophie Blanchard took her first balloon flight in 1804, and was made Napoleon's chief of air service in 1811. In 1903, Aida de Acosta, an American woman vacationing in Paris piloted airship, becoming the first known woman to pilot a motorized aircraft. Katharine Wright flew the Wright Model A. Emma Lilian Todd designed her own airplanes. Her first plane flew in 1910. Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick became the first woman to jump from an aircraft in 1913. Raymonde de Laroche, was the world's first licensed female pilot. Seven other French women followed her in 1901-1902. Blanche Scott claimed to be the first American woman to fly an airplane and established herself as a daredevil pilot. Bessica Raiche recognized as the first American woman to make a solo flight. Harriet Quimby became the USA's first licensed female pilot on August 1, 1911 and the first woman to cross the English Channel by airplane the following year. Lidia Zvereva, the first female Russian license performed her first aerobatic loop in 1914. In 1913, Lyubov Golanchikova signed a contract to become the first female test pilot to test "Farman-22" manufactured in Russia. In 1916, Zhang Xiahun (Chinese: 張俠魂) China's first female pilot crashed, becoming a national heroine when she survived. Katherine Stinson became the first woman air mail pilot, when the United States Postal Service. The following year, Ruth Law flew the first official U.S. air mail to the Philippines. In 1936, Hanna Reitsch of Germany became one of the first persons to fly a fully controllable helicopter and earned the first woman helicopter pilot's license. In 1937 Sabiha Gökçen of Turkey became the first trained woman combat pilot, participating in search operations and bombing flight. In 1943 Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) were flying new planes from factories to Army Air Force bases, worked as test pilots. In 1942 Soviet Union created an all-woman combat flight unit, the 588th Night-Bomber Air-Regiment or the Night Witches. They flew harassment and precision bombing missions and "dumped 23,000 tons of bombs on the German invaders". The Soviets also had the only women to be considered flying aces like Lydia Litvyak and Yekaterina Budanova.