National Museum of Australia drops $8m on largest private collection of Australiana

 The first thing Sir Charles Kingsford Smith did after touching down in Melbourne in January 1932 in his Southern Star plane was light up a cigarette.

The second — once police and government authorities had turned their backs — was to stealthily cut a foot-long gash into the side of his trusty aircraft, and retrieve a parcel hidden deep inside the fuselage.

Key points:

The National Museum of Australia has acquired Trevor Kennedy's famous collection of Australiana for $8 million

Mr Kennedy spent decades collecting the pieces

The acquisition marks a proud moment for the museum

The pioneering aviator had just landed with Australia's first commercial shipment of airmail from England.

But he had also smuggled home a diamond and sapphire brooch that he had made in Amsterdam for his wife, Mary.

The bespoke brooch was highly sentimental — it had been fashioned in the shape of the famous Southern Cross aircraft in which the aviator completed the first trans-Pacific flight in 1928.

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-17/national-museum-drops-8m-on-largest-ever-acquisition/12671138