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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Sir Reginald Ansett

Ansett-Airways-electras-mildura by Unknown Arthur/

Sir Reginald Myles Ansett was an Australian businessman and aviator. Ansett was educated at Swinburne Technical College Victoria.

He was best known for founding Ansett Transport Industries which owned one of Australia’s two leading domestic airlines between 1957 and 2001.

He also learned to fly airplanes when local transport regulations prevented him from extending his taxi business to Melbourne.

He bought a small monoplane that could carry up to six passengers, and Ansett founded Ansett Airways Ltd.

His other business interests included hotels, television, and road transport. Ansett was knighted in 1969.

1. The astonishing Ansett Airways Ltd based in Melbourne flew domestically

Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia.

The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia.

The last flight touched down on 5 March 2002, Ansett Airways Ltd. was incorporated in Victoria as a public company in 1937 with services to Sydney, Broken Hill, and Adelaide.

The Hamilton to Melbourne air service, begun in February 1936, proved to be unprofitable and Ansett made ends meet by taking people for joyrides.

The company was founded by Reginald Ansett in 1935 as Ansett Airways Pty Ltd. Ansett’s first route was between Hamilton, Western Victoria, and Melbourne.

Ansett lost control of the company to Peter Abeles’ TNT and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation in 1979, with Abeles taking operational control of the airline.

In February 2000, Air New Zealand acquired full ownership of Ansett, buying out News Corporation’s stake for $680 million, surpassing Singapore Airlines’ $500 million bid.

The company secured a license for a television station in Melbourne in 1963 and another one in Brisbane in 1964.

2. Sir Reginald interestingly purchased a second-hand Studebaker car 

1922 Studebaker car by Unknown Arthur/

In 1930 he purchased a second-hand Studebaker car and used it to carry passengers and freight between Maryborough and Ballarat under the name of Ansett Motors.

This venture lost money so he shifted his base to Hamilton. With success, he bought more cars and hired staff, and the business grew.

In 1932 the Victorian Government introduced legislation to protect the railways from the competition.

After being refused a license to operate between Hamilton and Melbourne by road, Ansett registered Ansett Airways Pty Ltd.

3. Amazingly Sir Ansett was appointed KBE and awarded the Walter Oswald Watt gold medal

Ansett was appointed KBE in 1969 and awarded the Walter Oswald Watt gold medal for 1975.

He cultivated the image of the entrepreneur and industrialist. Addressed as `R. M.’ by his senior executives and other business intimates.

He took a keen interest in the programming of his television stations. Espousing the interests and championing the virtues of private enterprise.

4. Remarkably Sir Reginald Ansett left an $8m estate his sons are taking legal action 

Court by Sebastian Pichler/

Sir Reginald Ansett left an $8m estate when he died in 1981, but now it’s worth much more and his heirs want a bigger slice.

Twenty-four years after Sir Reginald Ansett died, his two sons are taking legal action aimed at getting a chunk of his estate, now worth tens of millions of dollars.

Mr. Ansett, and his brother, John a former lawyer and Melbourne taxi driver, have gone to the Supreme Court to claim that their father’s will did not make adequate provision.

5. Interestingly Sir Reginald refused to allow the recruitment of women pilots 

Group of Women Airforce Service Pilots and B-17 Flying Fortress By unknown Arthur/

His refusal to allow the recruitment of women pilots was settled in the High Court in 1979 in favor of pilot Deborah Wardley, leading to a female flight crew at Ansett.

He could be gruff and famously ran into trouble with comments about female flight attendants.

Reg Ansett placed heavy demands on himself and his staff and wore well the image of an industrialist and entrepreneur.

His views on women in aviation were widely viewed as sexist, he once described stewardesses over 30 as old boilers.

His Son Bob is reported as saying his power, the confidence he projected was that anything he wanted to happen would happen.

6. The astonishing Sir Reginald Ansett transport museum located on the shores of Lake Hamilton

Stondon Transport Museum by Unknown Arthur/

The Sir Reginald Ansett Transport Museum is located on the shores of Lake Hamilton and within easy walking distance of the city Centre, a caravan park, and motels.

The Sir Reginald Ansett Transports Museums is dedicated to the transport and tourism pioneer Reg Ansett, who commenced his transport business in Hamilton, Victoria in 1931.

The museum is based on the Ansett company’s original aircraft hangar, which has been relocated to Hamilton and displays a collection of over 1,000 objects.

The objects displayed are from throughout the history of Ansett Airlines, the museum is a separate entity from Ansett Australia Ltd

It has toilet, BBQ, and parking facilities on site, with ample room for caravans. Tourist coaches are also catered for.

The museum is operated by an incorporated association and offers tax deductibility status for gifts and donations over $2.

7. Interestinglt Sir Ansett was a founding member and chairman of the Mornington racing club

He was also a foundation member and sometime chairman of the Mornington Racing Club and was president for some years of the Port Phillip District Racing Association.

Ansett in middle age was a lean and limber man, with an easy gait, five feet eleven and a half inches tall and weighing only seventy kg.

His face is long and narrow, with a lightly cleft chin and deep vertical creases beside the mouth.

It was through racing that he cemented his friendship with Bolte, who in 1960 intervened on his behalf to prevent the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.

8. The awesome Port Philip District Racing association Australian Colony

Port Phillip District, the original name of the area of the Australian colony and present commonwealth state of Victoria.

It was discovered in 1802 by Lieutenant John Murray of the Royal Navy and soon afterward named for Governor Arthur Phillip of New South Wales, of which the area became part.

It remained unsettled until 1835 when a group of Tasmanian sheepmen defied a government ban on settlement and moved large flocks to the district.

The district quickly grew around the city of Melbourne, and in 1851 it became the self-governing colony of Victoria.

9. Amazingly Sir Reginald married twice Grace and Joan Adams 

He married twice. From his first marriage to Grace, he had two sons, John and Robert. After their divorce, Grace took the boys to live in the USA.

He married Joan Adams in 1944 and they adopted three daughters, Jane, Janet, and Jill. The new family lived on the Ansett estate at Mount Eliza.

10. The famous Ansett fell ill before his death 

Ansett fell ill several months before his death and returned home from the Peninsula Private Hospital at Frankston to spend Christmas with his family.

He died on December 1981 at his estate in Mount Eliza, his wife and their three adopted daughters survived him, as did the sons of his first marriage.

There were also bequests to the Mornington Racing Club and the Peninsula Church of England School and Toorak College, Mount Eliza.