Beverley - WA

Orientation 115°. Located 132 km east of Perth in the heart of the wheat-sheep belt, Beverley is set on the banks of the Avon River. In many ways it is a typical wheatbelt town (of the larger variety) but its size and the attractiveness of its main street make it more than just another simple service centre. It has a population of over 1200. The town's major attraction is the Aeronautical Museum which was built in 1967 to honour the local inventor Selby Ford who, with a cousin Tom Shackles, built a biplane which they called the 'Silver Centenary'. Although neither man was a flier, the plane was. The two men had literally designed the plane in chalk on their garage floor. They spent two years building it. It first flew in 1930. Later it was taken to Maylands Airfield where Major de Havilland and the aviatrix Amy Johnson flew it. Unfortunately it was never licensed because there were no blueprints of its design. It's hard taking a garage floor to the licensing board!