Glass sandwich tray commemorating the Centenary Air Race in 1934

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1934

Overview

Moulded glass sandwich tray commemorating the Centenary Air Race in 1934. It is rectangular in shape with rounded ends and has decorative fluted sides. The underside is etched with images from left to right of Great Britain, four aeroplanes and Australia. Text is etched above and below the images.
There are two of these trays in the collection.

Historical information

The Centenary Air-Race was conceived by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sir Harold Gengoult Smith, as part of the celebrations recognising the centenary of Melbourne.
It was sponsored by the Australian confectionary maker, MacPherson Robertson (known as MacRobertson). As part of this support, he insisted that the race include his name, so it was alternatively known as 'The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race' or the 'London to Melbourne Air Race'.
The race ran from RAF Mildenhall in East Anglia to Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, with 5 compulsory stops en route at Baghdad, Allahabad, Singapore, Darwin, and Charleville, Queensland. Otherwise the route chosen was up to the pilots and crews.

More of the history of the event is attached as a link.

There are several other items relating to this Air-Race in the collection.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00247

Item type

Themes

Social History
Transport