Millicent Bryant
{{Short description|Australian aviator (1878–1927)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox person|birth_date=8 January 1878|occupation=aviator|death_date=3 November 1927|known_for=first woman to earn a pilot's licence in Australia|awards=inducted into National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame}}
Millicent Maude Bryant (née Harvey, 8 January 1878 – 3 November 1927) was an early Australian aviator. She was the first woman to earn a pilot's licence in Australia, Pilot's Licence No. 71, in 1927.{{cite web|last1=Arnold|first1=Rosemary|title=The Names Change But The Sky Is The Same|url=http://www.loveair.co.uk/blog/the-names-change-but-the-sky-is-the-same/|website=Love Air|access-date=26 January 2018}} She was also first to receive her pilot's licence in the Commonwealth, outside Britain.{{Cite web|last=Vicars|first=James|date=1 December 2020|title=MILLICENT BRYANT, THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN WOMAN TO GET A PILOT'S LICENCE|url=https://historyguild.org/hidden-women-of-history-millicent-bryant-the-first-australian-woman-to-get-a-pilots-licence/|website=History Guild}}
Early life
Bryant was born at Apsley, Wellington, New South Wales. Her parents were Edmund George Harvey and Georgiana Sarah Bartlett Harvey. She was one of ten children.[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16991666 "Mr. E. G. Harvey"] Sydney Morning Herald (17 July 1933): 6. via Trove
Career
In March 1927, at age 49, Bryant earned a pilot's licence from the Australian Aero Club of New South Wales. With Evelyn Follett, she is believed to be the first woman to take a flying lesson in Australia and was the first woman to qualify for a private pilot's licence in Australia.[http://centennialofwomenpilots.com/millicent-bryant-australia/ "Millicent Bryant – Australia"], Centennial of Women Pilots.[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/190195005 "First Woman Air Pilot"] Tweed Daily (6 April 1927): 4. via Trove{{Citation | author1=Powerhouse Museum | title=Women with wings : images of Australian women pilots | publication-date=2000 | publisher=Powerhouse Museum, Ideas in Action | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/35683568 | access-date=12 December 2016 }}{{Citation | author1=Mann, Sheila | author2=Australia. Department of Aviation | title=The girls were up there too : Australian women in aviation | year=1986 | publication-date=1986 | publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service | isbn=978-0-644-04154-6 }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article159792745 |title=Women Aviators of New South Wales |newspaper=Sydney Mail |volume=XXXIX |issue=1010 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=5 August 1931 |access-date=27 January 2018 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228878922 |title=The Sky's the Limit |newspaper=The Sun |issue=1527 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 July 1932 |access-date=27 January 2018 |page=21 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Personal life
Bryant was married to Edward James Bryant. They had three sons (born 1901, 1903, and 1908). She was widowed in 1926.[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16276587 "Mr. E. J. Bryant"] Sydney Morning Herald (16 February 1926): 12. via Trove
Bryant died by drowning in Sydney Harbour in 1927, aged 49 years, one of the victims of the Tahiti-Greycliffe Ferry disaster.[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16416498 "First Woman Aviator: Mrs. M. M. Bryant"] Sydney Morning Herald (5 November 1927): 18. via Trove Five planes flew over her funeral and dropped a flower wreath in tribute.[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143262879 "Late Mrs. M. M. Bryant; Wreath from the Air"] Wellington Times (10 November 1927): 13. via Trove In the year following her death, her sons established the Millicent Maud Bryant Trophy to be awarded each year to the best all round pilot of the Australian Aero Club of New South Wales.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223223633 |title=IN MOTHER'S MEMORY |newspaper=The Sun |issue=1314 |location=Sydney |date=3 June 1928 |access-date=24 January 2018 |page=39 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Bryant's leather flying helmet is in the collection of the National Library of Australia.{{Citation | title=Aviator's flying cap worn by Millicent Bryant | publication-date=1926 | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/192444092 | access-date=12 December 2016 }}
In 2001, Millicent Bryant was inducted into the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame. In 2007, to mark the 80th anniversary of her pilot's licence, an official plaque was attached to her tombstone by the Australian Women Pilots' Association.[http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/aviation/display/22035-millicent-bryant Millicent Bryant plaque], Monument Australia.
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Find a Grave|28166239}}
- [http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/imageservices/2010/02/mrs-millicent-bryant/ 1927 portrait of a smiling Millicent Harvey], in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum
- J. B. Vicars, [https://e-publications.une.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/une:17218?exact=sm_contributor%3A%22Roberts+D%22 "Flights of Imagination: Fictional biography and writing the life of Australia's first woman Pilot, Millicent Bryant"] (PhD dissertation, University of New England 2014).
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Category:People from Wellington, New South Wales