The 6th Lawrence Hargrave Memorial Kite Day for Public Schools.
Wednesday the 10th of November, 2010. Stanwell Park.
The Lawrence Hargrave Memorial Kite Day is a NSW Department of Education and Training event that brings 1000 Illawarra primary school students together at Stanwell Park to celebrate the achievements of Australian aviation pioneer Lawrence Hargrave. On the 12th of November , 1894, Lawrence Hargrave became the first man in the world to achieve vertical lift off while tethered to four box-kites on Stanwell Park beach. Hargrave's achievement was one of the most significant milestones in the development of manned flight.
The Kite Day commences at 11.00am with an official ceremony in Stanwell Park Picnic area. At 12.30 the students move onto Stanwell Park Beach to fly hundreds of colourful kites as a spectacular tribute to Hargrave. At 1.00pm the Histrorical Aircraft Restoration Society from Albion Park will stage the Lawrence Hargrave-Eric Waite Memorial Fly Over in the skiies over Stanwell Park. Several Historical Aircraft including HARS flagship the Super Constellation
"Connie" will participate in the Fly Over.
High profile media personality, author and journalist, Mr Peter Fitzsimmons is the new Parton of the event and he will be present on the day and will play an active part in the Official Ceremony. The theme for this year's kite day is Australian Aviation History.
The event generates considerable pre event media coverage in both Sydney and Wollongong and therefore attracts a large public audience, particularly for the Fly Over. The following schools have indicated that they will be attending:- Scarborough PS, Mount St Thomas PS, Helensburgh PS, Bulli PS, Warwick Farm PS and Thirroul PS. More schools have yet to decide if they will attend or not.