Published on: November 2021
Record: HANSARD-1323879322-120466
In Honour of Charles Ulm
Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore)
—Speaker, Australian aviation pioneer Charles Ulm was recognised with a memorial plaque earlier this Month. His son and grandson unveiled the plaque in his honour at Mosman Council Chambers. Organised by the Australian Remembers Committee, the plaque tells a story about the service and gallantry of those who lived in our community. Ulm was raised in Mosman, and in 1914 at the age of 16, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force under a false name, stating that he was 20 years old. He was wounded at Gallipoli in April 1915, returned to Australia and was discharged as a minor. Ulm re-enlisted under his own name in 1917, where he served on the Western Front in 1918. In 1927, Ulm and Charles Kingsford Smith completed the first flight across the Pacific Ocean. Ulm and Kingsford Smith founded Australian National Airways in December 1928. Ulm set several flight records before disappearing while flying from San Francisco to Hawaii in 1934. It was wonderful to hear his grandson Ben Ulm talk about his grandfather's life stories.