Copyright © Author: Mark Mulvany 2003
It was as if a curtain had gone up and a show had started.
The words in the articles on the musty paper of the pages of “The Argus” of 1910 which I had before me in the Library brought it all to life.
It happened at “a lonely paddock, barely twenty miles from Melbourne”. It was “a mile or so” from the Diggers Rest Railway Station. It was “Mr. Cook’s paddock” and there two large tents had been erected. One of these housed Mr. Houdini’s French-built Voisin bi-plane. The other housed a Wilbur Wright aeroplane which had been recently imported into Australia and “placed in charge of” a Mr. Banks.
Houdini was in Melbourne for his Melbourne Season and, though performing in the City, had also been travelling to and from the City and Diggers Rest by motor car.
There cannot have been many motor cars in Melbourne in 1910.
I had always made the assumption, safe enough I believe, that Diggers Rest had taken its name from weary miners trudging to and from Melbourne along the route to the gold fields. On my trips along the Freeway I had often glanced across at the windswept land and wondered about the Houdini link.
And now here before me were the details!
For about a month the attempts at flight had been thwarted by constant winds.
Unwisely Banks had attempted flight in the Wilbur Wright machine on March 1 in conditions less than ideal, taking a risk not even Houdini had been willing to take in the Voisin. Banks had come to grief. Hardly had his plane lifted when a treacherous wind tilted its head downwards. It dived heavily into the ground and did a complete somersault. By some miracle Banks survived with only bruising and a very bad shaking-up.
The Wright machine had been extensively damaged although wrecked might have been a better description of it.
Houdini’s Engineer, a Monsieur Brassac, could speak no English, cursed in the French language, and was always saying beaucoup de vent with gloomy disposition. He loved the Voisin as if it were his only child and slept with it.
When the wind conditions improved Houdini’s initial attempts to take off had been unsuccessful due to a mechanical difficulty with the controls.
Early on the morning of 18 March 1910 Houdini succeeded in making three flights.
The last of these flights was the longest and involved him covering a distance in a circle of some two miles, leaving the paddock and flying over some rock fences and rocky areas in the process. He achieved a height of 100 feet.
Brassac had counted “Un, deux, trois”, one assumes with appropriate grunts, as he had twisted the 8 foot propeller to start the Voisin.
A group of witnesses to the flights on 18 March 1910 signed a testimonial letter which was reproduced in “The Argus” on 19 March 1910. Two of the witnesses, named Kukol and Vickery, were described in the newspaper articles as Houdini’s “assistants in stage work”. Another, one Jordan, was stated in the articles to be “the chauffeur engaged by Mr. Houdini while in Melbourne”.
Houdini was said to already be very well known to the public “from his escapes from chains and bonds”.
The Voisin, which had Houdini’s name conspicuously marked on it, drew its name from its manufacturers, the Voisin Brothers of France. They had built it especially for Houdini in 1909. Detailed descriptions are given of it in the newspaper articles: It weighed 1,350 lb. “ with Mr. Houdini mounted”. The 8 ft. propeller was behind the pilot. The articles refer to it as having “screamed hoarsely behind” Houdini. Its design drew on the box-kite configuration of the famous Australian aviation pioneer Lawrence Hargrave.
It is interesting to note that before achieving his objective Houdini was being careful not to speak much about what he was doing. He was asked:
Why so quiet about it?
Mr. Houdini laughed.
Performances first!
Do you remember how Wilbur Wright put it? ‘We are the bird-men, and the bird which talks best and flies worst is the parrot’. I wouldn’t like Wilbur Wright to class me as a parrot.
The description of the third successful flight on 18 March 1910 which appeared in “The Argus” was as follows:-
The third flight lasted 3 1/2 min. and was unmarred by any fault. Houdini swept boldly away from the flying field, confident of his control of the plane, and passing over rocky rises and stone fences, described a great circle, which was, at the lowest estimate, well over two miles. The machine, in rounding curves, leaned over, as one sees a seagull lean sideways to the wind, but the aviator felt that he was no longer a “fledgling”, and, the curve negotiated, straightened the plane with a turn of the wheel. The descent was faultless, and the plane came to rest within 20 ft. of the starting point, where the little knot of witnesses were standing.
Houdini was interviewed in Melbourne after the successful flights. He was quoted as having said:-
When I went up for the first time I thought for a minute that I was in a tree, then I knew I was flying. The funny thing was that as soon as I was aloft, all the tension and strain left me... ... As soon as I was up all my muscles relaxed, and I sat back. feeling a sense of ease. Freedom and exhilaration, that’s what it is...
He said that the plane was like a swan. He said of it:-
She’s a dandy.
When Houdini had his success in the Voisin on 18 March 1910 the Wright machine was still being rebuilt after the serious accident which Banks had in it on 1 March.
On 20 March 1910 Houdini flew a much longer flight, covering over three and a half miles, before a crowd of about 100-120 spectators. Someone unwittingly rode a horse across the space which Houdini needed free for the machine.
A large picture of the Voisin aloft, with onlookers beneath, appeared in “The Argus” on 21 March 1910.
On one occasion Houdini said of the Wilbur Wright machine:-
...when you’ve learned how to handle the Wright you can do more with it than mine.
On another occasion he said:-
I didn’t seem to have enough power to fight the wind.
The relationship between the Wilbur Wright machine and Houdini’s Voisin was not clear from the newspaper articles. One has the feeling that the Wilbur Wright machine was part of some separate syndicate and that there was some friendly collaboration between Houdini and the persons involved in it. Perhaps it was merely shared enthusiasm. The articles throw no light on the matter. The name of Banks was “Rolf C. Banks”.
The Wright machine was a more complex machine and it had two propellers.
Houdini’s Melbourne Season appears to have closed on 18 March 1910.
In February and early March of 1910 advertisements continuously appeared in “The Argus” for his performances. To stimulate the interest of the public different groups, such as the rope-makers, or the Nurses and Asylum Attendants, were said to be challenging him in an effort to defeat his exploits. The milk producers were said to be intending to immerse him in milk so that he could not see the locks restraining him.
Small things in the newspaper articles, such as his comment about the Wright machine, present Houdini in a very good light, as if he was a restrained decent type.
Nothing in the articles suggests that Houdini was a braggart. It was said of him that he spoke of the flights unaffectedly but with the elation of the successful enthusiast.
Houdini’s real name was Ehrich Weiss. He was born in 1874 and died in unusual circumstances in 1926.
Since writing this article I have learned of some further matters of interest:
To read about another Chapter in the history of aviation in Australia click here.
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