Maude Rose (Rubens) Bonney AM MBE (1897 - 1994)

Born 20 Nov 1897 in Pretoria, South Africa

Wife of Barrington Bonney — married 7 May 1917 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Died 24 Feb 1994 at age 96 in Mermaid Beach, Queensland, Australia

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Biography

Lores (Rubens) Bonney AM MBE is Notable.

Lores Bonney was one of Australia's great pioneers of aviation, with several "firsts" to her name :

• clocked the longest one-day flight by an airwoman (1600 km / 994.2 miles)         
  
• first woman who circumnavigated Australia by air (12,800 km / 7953.55 miles)
• first woman who flew solo from Australia to the UK (20,000 km / 12427.4 miles)
• made the first flight from Australia to South Africa (16,826 km / 10455.2 miles).

Life Events

Maude Rose Rubens was born on the 20th November 1897, in Pretoria, South Africa, the daughter of German-born father Norbert Albert Rubens and South African-born Rosa Carolina Haible.^[1][2]

Lores (Rubens) Bonney AM MBE migrated from Pretoria, South Africa to England.

The family Rubens emigrated to England in 1901; later re-emigrating - this time to Australia - in 1903.

Lores (Rubens) Bonney AM MBE migrated from England to Australia.

Maude was educated in Victoria, and abroad, developing skills with piano, French, and German, and finding a love of gardening which remained with her the rest of her life.
During the Great War, Maude — as did so many women and girls — was to serve with the Australian Red Cross. During this time she met the man who was to become her husband.

Maude married Harry Barrington Bonney on on the 7th May 1917, in St Philip’s Church of England, Sydney, New South Wales.^[3]
Despite much hoping, there were to be no children.

Maude made the decision to abandon use of her given names, adopting instead the name "Lores" (which comes from the name Delores), by which she was to become very well known.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Aviatrix Lores Bonney, Harry Corones, and her aeroplane, at Charleville airport, Queensland (1933).

It was meeting her husband's cousin, Bert Hinkler that birthed in her a desire to fly. Having begun flying lessons in secret, it was after she told husband Harry of her dreams he bought for her a de Havilland DH.60 Gypsy Moth that she named My Little Ship.

Once she was licensed to fly, Lores :

• —made what was then the longest one-day flight by an airwoman (Brisbane-Wangaratta — 1931).
• —became the first woman to circumnavigate Australia by air (1932).
• —became the first woman to fly solo from Australia to England (1933). (This "title" has since been awarded elsewhere)
• —was appointed a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by King George V (1934).
• —was governor of the Women’s International Association of Aeronautics (1934-1939)
• —competed in the Brisbane to Adelaide Air Race (1936).^[7]
• —made the first flight from Australia to South Africa (1937).

Miss B Hudson and Lores Bonney, Brisbane to Adelaide Air Race (December 1936)

The Second World War having ended her flying career in the midst of plans for an around the world flight, Lores was to serve with the Women’s Voluntary National Register, Queensland branch.
After the war, she was able to resume flying for a few years, but gave it up in 1949 when her eyesight had become too bad to allow her to pilot her aircraft.
During the 1950s, Lores was president of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association, Queensland branch; and the marriage to her "Billi" failed.
Facing the future alone, she moved to Queensland's Gold Coast where she settled for the remainder of her life; although she continued to enjoy extensive travel, and doing bonsai.

Life did not stop for Lores, as evidenced by her :

• —being awarded the Nancy Bird Trophy (1981)^[8]
• —being appointed an Honorary Ambassador to World Expo, Brisbane (1988).^[9]
• —being made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) (1991) — signatories supporting her nomination for the award of Order of Australia included such aviation luminaries as Douglas Bader, Leonard Cheshire and Adolf Galland.^[10]

Also there is :

• —the Bonney Trophy (which she presented in England) being awarded annually to an outstanding female British pilot.
• —the establishment of a trophy in her honour by the Australian Women Pilots Association.
• —that she was awarded an honorary doctorate for her services to aviation, by Griffith University, Queensland.
• —that three streets have been named for her : Bonney Avenue, Clayfield, Brisbane; Lores Bonney Circuit, Coolangatta, Queensland (Gold Coast Airport); and Lores Bonney Drive, just off the Archerfield Airport, Archerfield, Queensland

Lores Bonney née Maude Rose Rubens passed away on the 24th February 1994, at Mermaid Beach, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, just three months past her 96th birthday.

Posthumously she :

• —was inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame (2012) ^[11]
• —had the electoral district of Bonney named for her (2017)
• —had the Lores Bonney Riverwalk, a meandering 1.2 kilometres (about 3/4 mile / just over 1,300 yards) from Cameron Rocks to Bretts Wharf alongside Kingsford Smith Drive, Hamilton, Brisbane, named for her
• —was featured on the Google Doodle on 20 November 2019 (her 122nd birthday)

Sources

1. ↑ National Archives of Australia: Passport renewal 3 May 1974: BONNEY, Harry Barrington (born 1888); wife Maude Rose (nee Rubens) - (born 1897 - South Africa)
2. ↑ Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV); North Melbourne, Victoria (Ancestry.com. Victoria, Australia, Divorce Records, 1860-1940 [database on-line]. : accessed 11 Dec 2020) Rubens v Rubens Ancestry Record 61565 #12818
3. ↑ New South Wales State Government Births, Deaths, Marriages Marriage Registration details: Registration Number: 3257/1917; Groom's Family Name: BONNEY; Groom's Given Name(s): HARRY B; Bride's Family Name(s): RUBENS; Bride's Given Name(s): MAUDE R; District: SYDNEY
4. ↑ "COUSIN OF HINKLER" Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954) 30 December 1931: 4. Web. 11 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193786309>.
5. ↑ "A LADY'S LETTER" Kalgoorlie Miner (WA : 1895 - 1954) 2 September 1932: 3. Web. 11 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94968121>.
6. ↑ "HOP TO VICTORIA." The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) 11 August 1937: 15. Web. 11 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17393402>.
7. ↑ "BRISBANE TO ADELAIDE AIR RACE" The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) 26 December 1936: 25. Web. 14 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141783884>.
8. ↑ National Library of Australia: Papers of Maude Bonney, circa 1920-circa 1990 [manuscript] (Nancy Bird Trophy)
9. ↑ National Library of Australia: Papers of Maude Bonney, circa 1920-circa 1990 [manuscript] (Honorary Ambassador 1988)
10. ↑ National Library of Australia: Papers of Maude Bonney, circa 1920-circa 1990 [manuscript] (Order of Australia support)
11. ↑ AAHOF; accessed 6 Oct 2022

• BDM registrations, newspaper articles, National Archives of Australia data.

See also:

• Australian Geographic: Lores Bonney; the forgotten aviatrix
• Australian Dictionary of Biography: Bonney, Maude Rose (Lores)
• National Library of Australia
• Wikipedia: Maude_Bonney
• Wikidata: Item Q6792288, en:Wikipedia