Hudson Fysh

by Grantlee Kieza

The extraordinary life of the Gallipoli veteran and WWI Flying Corp gunner who founded Qantas and gave Australia its wingsBy the critically acclaimed author of bestselling biographies of John Monash, Banjo Paterson, Joseph Banks, Lachlan Macquarie and Henry Lawson, this is a fascinating, lively and thoroughly researched portrait of a modest, resolute family man with a steady hand during turbulence, a man who guided Australia's national airline from its humble beginnings through the dark days of the Great Depression, the perilous years of World War II, when the airline flew dangerous missions for the Allies, and into the great boom in international tourism that followed with the jet age.Hudson Fysh was a decorated World War I hero who not only founded Australia's national airline, Qantas, but steered it for almost half a century from its humble beginnings with two rickety biplanes to the age of the jumbo jets. More than anyone, Fysh shaped the way that Australians saw the world.A sickly boy traumatised by his parents' broken marriage, Fysh was a poor student, but the courage and determination he developed playing sport propelled him through his toughest challenges and became the foundations of this great Australian life.One of Australia's celebrated Light Horsemen at Gallipoli, Fysh went on to fly death-defying missions for Lawrence of Arabia with the Australian Flying Corps and battle Germans in deadly dogfights in the skies over Palestine. On his return from the Great War, Fysh launched his bush airline, the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (Qantas), with the help of a wartime pilot friend and some western Queensland graziers. After flying the first scheduled Qantas passenger flight in 1922, he ushered in the Flying Doctor Service that still assists remote communities and the first Qantas international airmail services, which revolutionised Australian communications. Fysh went on to guide Qantas through the dark days of the Great Depression, the perilous years of World War II, when the airline flew dangerous missions for the Allies, and into the great boom in international tourism that followed with the jet age, giving millions of Australians their first experience of international travel.

Genres: Biography, History

480 pages, Hardcover

Published November 16, 2022

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hudson Fysh is an extremely well-written biography outlining the life of Hudson Fysh as an aviator.

Hudson guided Qantas through many obstacles for 46 years and made it both one of the world's greatest airlines and an Australian icon.

Hudson clocked well over 1699 hrs at the controls.

The 1930's was a decade when many pioneering aviators also flew for the first time.

Qantas launched it's first overseas Australian flight on 10th December 1934.

Hearing about the personal life and career of aviator Hudson Fysh is an eye-opener into the history of aviation and the personal life of Fysh in this exceptional biography by Grantlee Kieza.

It's interesting hearing what an extraordinary and great Australian, Hudson Fysh was as an aviator who was also just an ordinary bloke who just liked trout fishing and the Australian bush.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grantlee Kieza, you'vre done it again by turning a great basis of research to built a first class biography of an Aussie hero, namely Hudson Fiysh and and the founding of Qantas. I have read many books on the history of Australia's iconic airline, but this is the best version. It is told with more colour, more verve that some of the alternates. Maybe, because it tells the human story. The people behind the airline. It is also relevant to comment on the meanness of the Government when Fysh was faces retirement. At that stage Qantas had been acquired by the Government, so effectively as Qantas Chairman Fysh was a Government employee and he hadn't been one for long. Under the prior arrangements Fysh's private company would have been entitled to generous stock market share offers, but not as a Government enterprise. Much to their dishonour the Government officials of the day with nigardy in paying out reasonable retirement benefits to Fysh. As a book. A great read.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely the story of an extraordinary life and one that I am glad I now know. Even if Hudson Fysh had not founded Qantas, his story would still be worth listening to, but his impact on Australia and our relationship with the world around us, cannot be underestimated. I have flown on Qantas to London several times, and if I ever do so again, knowing all that occurred to make this possible will make it a completely different experience.

[Richard Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always Grantlee Kieza has produced a very well researched and well told story about a remarkable Australian. He writes in a very engaging way with interesting anecdotes and a narrative that takes the reader along for the ride. Hudson Fysh was clearly a visionary and a highly principled man dedicated to making this a better country in which to live. To think that he died without a massive amount of material wealth makes one reflect on what he would make of the money grabbing opportunists that currently run big business in Australia today.

[Dave Lavers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read - a well told history that is interesting, informative and eye opening.

[Brendon McKeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing person, incredible to hear the history of QANTAS

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it's an interesting read. I found that it didn't sequence as nicely as I would like, there were repetitions and the time line seemed at odds with it self, from time to time.

Apart from that it was interesting and informative, which is all I ask from Australian history.

Mind you, I though the ending was sad, with this one time driving force and captain of industry having to go begging, cap in hand, to get enough money to live out his (forced) retirement. A pecuniary situation entirely of his own making because he once had a bad experience with real estate, in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a depression. Sad but true.

[Scott Humphries · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the content and story of Hudson Fysh’s scrappy founding and building of Qantas. How could I not, as an Aussie pilot myself, particularly one whose bucket list includes a vacation down under to fly the Outback. But I think I’ve been spoiled by Ron Chernow and Walter Isaacson: I don’t understand Fysh the way I did Franklin, Grant, et al. after finishing their biographies. I think that stems partly from Kieza’s reluctance to write anything negative about his subject (other than reminding us Fysh smoked a lot). But also partly from the depth of the story (e.g. at the end of the book Kieza hints in one sentence that Fysh had lifelong questions about religion but dismisses his potential atheism with one more sentence). It’s also possible, though, that I was subconsciously irritated that I no longer speak Australian, and that my hesitancy to give this book five stars is driven by my distraction at words like hectare and unfamiliar turns of phrase that would have conveyed more if I hadn’t left Sydney in 1978. This book is well worth reading.

[Ruth Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tells the story of Hudson Fysh's life and the founding and building of Qantas, Hudson Fysh certainly lived an interesting life including serving with the Light Horse and at Gallipoli. This book perhaps provides more information about the different planes over the years than I was able to fully appreciate, but this is part of the story of the huge changes in aviation in the last 100 years, and is part of building a picture of a fast changing Australia after WW1 driven by the flying aces who came home, and who could see the possibilities for using planes to shrink Australia's distances, unfortunately many of them did die following their passion for flying.
It's an interesting book about one man's life, but also some of Australia's history up to the early 1970s.

[Genevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Hudson Fysh and his place within the turbulent skies of the birth of Australian aviation is an interesting one. Grantlee Kieza definitely captures the man and his spirit of adventure through the years. It was fascinating to follow his story through the lens of Qantas’ birth all the way until the purchase of the first 747’s. To me, the book became more interesting from the WWII era onwards, but that just might be my historical preference. One small quibble might be its exhaustive length and maybe too many details which were not exactly relavent to the story. After reading several of the author’s offerings, that’s just Kieza.

[Bill Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well asembled acccount of the life and times of Hudson Fysh and the origins of QANTAS. With such a massive amount of material at hand, it can seem a daunting read, but to omit any detail would have done an injustice to Fysh the man and the other people who put QANTAS on the map.

And in general terms, a salutory reminder to all of us about have far aviation technology has come in the last 100 plus years. And a sad reminder that what accelerated aviation from its humble beginnings was the development of killing machines in WWI, and more so again in WWII. Has anything changed?

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this a great story - lots of details in regards to Australian Lighthorse and timeline of First World War for Australian. The character and family history that led to the life and journey of Hudson Fysh thoroughly enjoyed and fast pace - read in 2 days ! Could not put it down ( dropped on face .. had to go to sleep) . A great length of book too- I’m finding a lot of authors making weighty tomes that don’t add to story. This was as good as Monash .. love style of storytelling by Grantlee Keiza .

[Delcene Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye opening book about not only about Hudson Fysch but also covered à number of truely outstanding Australians responsible for pioneered the Australian flight industry.

The World War One heroics was eye boggling too!

A very colourful history of flight and courage indeed.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well researched book which was quite fascinating to read. The only downside was that there was probably, on occasions, a little too much detail which didn't add to the narrative. Apart from that it was a really enjoyable and informative read. I would recommend it.

[Emma Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive. If aviation history is an interest, this is the read for you. As well as aviation, this is history of one of Australia's most iconic brands. It was quite sad to read how Fysh was treated in the end. He definitely deserves more recognition.

[Faris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant story about these young guys back from the war who started an outback air service that grew into Qantas. A fantastic read.

[Steven]

very enjoyable read

[Mark White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly well researched (and extensively footnoted) and well written for the most part. Hudson Fysh lived through a fascinating period in the history of air travel in Australia. The problem is that the man himself isn't that interesting. Cautious, solid, dependable, the sort of leader Qantas needed to guide it through turbulent times and the constant pigheaded, ignorant interference from government, but not the exciting personality we like to read about. As a history of Australian domestic aviation it's pretty good but as bios go it's only average.

Criticisms of it as a history: A major class of aircraft ordered during Fysh's time is completely forgotten (the Lockheed Electras) which makes you think Kieza's research was done purely on the Qantas website. Story threads are often started but never pursued and there's rarely and explanation of what happened to airlines that at one time were larger and better positioned than Qantas. They are usually dismissed with "airline X was by now close to bankrupt" and no explanation of how they fell from grace. My other beef is measurement inconsistency eg distance is expressed variously as miles, km, miles (km equivalent) and km (miles equivalent). I blame the editors.