Inaugural president of the club.  Charl was a builder and started his parachuting with the Gertrude McKenzie Flying School Parachute Wing.  Victoria's first civilian parachute school course. 

He spent six months in New Zealand where he jumped with the Auckland Parachute Club

Charl and Bill Sparke toured Europe, Ireland and Russia, jumping whenever they could and returned to find sport parachuting in Australia had started to expand and it was no longer difficult to find a dropzone to carry out recreational parachuting.   Both were active motor cycle competition riders and Charl held a number of records in that field.

Charl was president of the Australian Parachute Federation from 1962 to 1964.

Inaugural Secretary of the club, Bill was also a builder and was on the same basic parachuting course as Charl Stewart. 

He and Charl Stewart traveled Ireland, Europe and Russia jumping when they could.   He and Charl were the first Australian sport parachutists to jump in foreign competition when they jumped in the Irish Championships.

Bill was also a keen amateur movie producer.    His home movies of his own and Charl's jumps were probably the first sport parachuting footage by an Australian.   Certainly the first freefall footage.

Bill was injured on landing in the Australian Parachuting Altitude and Freefall Record of 23,600 feet set by early club members at Virginia in South Australia.

Inaugural Chief Instructor of the club, Claude was a Guard with the Victorian Railways and operated Southern Cross Parachutes, a small parachute equipment business that later became a private company. He held APF Instructor Rating No. 9 and Chief Instructor Rating No. 4 

He and Bill Molloy were reform activists and were responsible for reformation of the Australian Parachute Federation into its present Area Council Structure.

Claude was elected secretary of the APF in 1962 and served until he was elected president in 1966.  He remained in that office until he stood down in 2001.

He was responsible for the development of the APF Training Program using ability as the parameter for advancement rather than experience.

Bill was a Qualified Paratrooper, serving with the CMF 1st Victorian Regiment.  He made his first sport jump and first free fall with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 26th of August 1961 at Koo Wee Rup Airfield (the club's first day operating on it's own dropzone)

He was a member of the Australian Parachute Team at the 6th and 7th World Parachuting Championships at Orange, Mass. USA 1962 and Leutkirch, Germany 1964.

Having made connection with the USA Team at Orange in 1962, he got the low down on how Aussie military personnel could train with the US Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.   When the World Championships in Leutkirch were finished, Bill hitched a ride on US military aircraft to Fort Bragg and talked his way onto every paratrooper course that he could.   It got him into a bit of strife when he returned home and the bills strted arriving to our military but he was then one of the most qualified paratroopers in the Australian Army.

Bill was a resourceful and entrepreneurial soldier, as was evidenced by the fact that upon his return from his tour of duty in Vietnam, the army offered Bill the opportunity to confirm his Majority and post him to the Army Parachute Training School as its CO.

Hans made his first two jumps in Sweden and after arriving in Australia he did 2 jumps with the Victorian Parachute School, 29 jumps with Bob Milligan at the NSW School of Parachuting, 5 jumps with 2 Commando Skydivers and more than 100 jumps with Southern Cross Skydivers.

He took part in the Australian altitude record at Elizabeth in 1961.  He held APF Instructor Rating No. 10

Hans developed as a competition parachutist and won the Victorian and Australian Championships in 1962.

He and Claude Gillard made the first Victorian baton pass and the first Victorian double baton pass with Bill Molloy.

Hans returned to Sweden in October 1962, went back to university and continued to jump some years.   He represented Sweden at an International Competition in Seville, England and was on a Swedish team in Germany.

In 1991, he underwent an operation to remove a brain tumour and retired.   He still visits Australia and keeps in touch with his friends from the old days.   

Steve came to Australia with the exodus from Hungary in 1957.  He was a glider pilot in Hungary and once he was settled, he went looking for a way to get back in the air.   All pilots in Hungary were required to make two parachute jumps per year to remain current, so Steve had 28 jumps in his log.    That gave him a good start in sport parachuting here.  He held APF Instructor Rating No. 12.

He advanced quickly in all areas of parachuting,   He was an expert Instructor, Packer, Display Jumper and Competitor.

Steve went to the 7th World Parachute Championships at Leutkirk, Germany in 1964 and afterwards purchased a Volkswagen, toured Europe and spent three months visiting his family in Hungary. 

Steve married Maggie and settled down in Endeavour Hills and raised two sons, Andrew and Robbie.   Andrew is a Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Electronics) and Robbie is a self employed gardener.

Joe was the most experienced of the group of Hungarian jumpers that came to Australia in 1957.   He was accepted as an instructor by the Department of Civil Aviation and was a leading light in the early development of Victorian sport parachuting.

His involvement with Southern Cross Skydivers was in the role of Club Rigger.    

Joe had been active in Hungarian parachuting in the days when the jumper that opened lowest was the toast of the club.  He applied for permission to make a freefall jump opening at 300ft but was refused by both the Australian Parachute Federation and the department of Civil Aviation.

He spent some time working in Papua New Guinea and married Marcia, a local girl brought her back to Australia and worked at Labertouche Sport Parachute Centre and lived at the Labertouche Gatehouse for some time.

Joe divorced and went to live in Hong Kong, married again, moved to Tennant Creek N.T.    He was diagnosed with cancer and died soon after.

Another of the Hungarian immigrants of 1957, Paul was an Instructor with the club in the first year.  He held APF Instructor Rating No. 11

He is a God fearing man and in the early days of his jumping with Victorian Parachute School, he often arranged for the local Pakenham priest to come to the drop zone early on Sunday mornings to bless the jumpers and their parachutes.

In the photo at left Bob was wearing an X-Type Parachute.  Note the flax liftwebs  have no cutaway capability and feed straight through the metal keepers.  The rig was fitted with a freefall container and ripcord.  Packed for canopy first deployment, the canopy usually developed before all the lines were unpacked resulting in very hard opening shock.

Bob was part of the hard core jump fraternity at the time when there were only 32 recreational jumpers in all of Australia.

Jim made his first jump at Koo-Wee-Rup Airfield on Southern Cross Skydivers' first student jump day on the 25th of June 1961

Jim became a Club Instructor in 1964 and held APF Instructor Rating No. 80

During the time he was jumping he lived in Moe and so had to travel long distances to dropzones.   He was a club member when it held it's first official jump day at the Koo-Wee-Rup Airfield (Now known as the Tooradin Airfield)

He was a foundation member of Southern Cross Skydivers Latrobe Valley and made the first jump for that club onto Latrobe Valley Airfield, its official dropzone on the 28th of October 1962.

Jim and his wife Ivy are now living the retired life in Noble Park, Victoria.

He first acted as a Jumpmaster with the Club on the 4th of November 1962.

Once he was an experienced jumper, he took to taking his pets up to jump with him as tandem passengers.

Peter had a career in Foreign Affairs and the Diplomatic Service.

Geoff made his first jump at Koo Wee Rup with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 25th of June 1961, the first day of operation on its own dropzone

He had a total malfunction on his first jump but that didn't phase him, he did copy book emergency procedures and went straight on with his training, was a quick learner and obtained APF Instructor Rating No. 67

A regular jumper until he left to serve in the Vietnam conflict.   He was a Scout in a tracking team with 8 RAR 1969/70

He now lives on the Queensland Coast and visits Toogoolawah occasionally with Rick Meerkin who has taken up jumping again for the third time.

Rick made his first jump at Pakenham with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 8th of October 1961 from Piper Tri-Pacer VH-MOM.  Jumpmaster Hans Magnusson.   He held APF Instructor Rating 37, issued on the 05/02/63.

He set off for the 7th World Championships at Leutkirsch on a merchant ship via East Africa and finished up in England running a parachute centre at Oxford.    He spent time at Lille in France prior to the Australian Team arriving to practice.   

After attending the world meet, he returned to England and then signed up to work at a Kibbutz in Israel.

Upon returning, Rick married and settled down to raising a family.  He returned to jumping in the mid 1988 and he now lives in Dandenong, Victoria.

Rick recently took up jumping for the third time with the aim of fun jumping at the 2008 World POPS Meet at Toogoolawah, Queensland.

Lennie made his first jump at Pakenham with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 10th of December 1961. He progressed very quickly through the ranks and held APF Instructor Rating No. 35 and Senior Instructor Rating No. 26.

When Claude resigned as Chief Instructor of the Club, Bill Molloy was offered the position but declined the offer and Lennie became Chief Instructor of the Club. He continued in this position until he left in 196? to take up employment in the Northern Territory.

He was a member of the Southern Cross Skydivers Display Team that jumped at the Hobart Regatta in February 1965.

He married Nina and they had 2 daughters.  He and Nina have separated and Lennie lived in Darwin until he passed away from natural causes on the 3rd of April 2008.   The skydivers of Darwin gave him a fitting send-off at the RSL.

Brian's first jump was at Abingdon, England in 1968, his first jump in Australia was with Southern Cross Skydivers over Geelong Common, Victoria on the 3rd of December 1961.  He spent the next five years completely dedicated to sport parachuting.

Brian worked at the 6th World Parachuting Championships at Orange, Massachusetts USA in 1962 and assisted with the production of the USPA Film "A Sport Is Born".

He organised Southern Cross Skydivers, King Island Division and was Tasmanian representative to the APF.   He won the 1500 metres Accuracy Event at the 1964 Australian Championships.

Brian and his wife had their house blown away from around them by Cyclone Tracy in Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974.    They built at Humpty Doo and after retiring, conducted a Bed & Breakfast accommodation there and he is now living the life of a retired gentleman.

Jock made his first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers at Pakenham on the 15th of July 1962.

He became a Club Instructor and Competition Coach. Jock was a core member of the Club, a successful competition jumper and won meets in Germany and England.  

He was Team Leader of Australian Teams at the World Championships in Graz 1968 and Tahlequah 1970.    He stayed on overseas and became a successful design engineer.

During his stay in England he won the British Parachuting Championships.   The organisers tried to classify him in the "Foreign and Other" classification but Jock produced his British passport and was awarded the trophy.

Jock is retired and has a deer farm in the Western District of Victoria. He is president of the Deer Industry Association of Australia.  

Jimmie made his first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers at Pakenham on the ??/??/??.

A keen jumper, he progressed quickly to display jumper and instructor status.  He held APF Instructor Rating No. 88

A bricklayer, Jimmie went on to become manager of a large company and is now semi retired and living the good life.

He was a member of the Southern Cross Skydivers Display Team that jumped at the Hobart Regatta in February 1965.

He attended the Southern Cross Skydivers reunion at Tooradin in 2007 and shifted to the Gold Coast to take up a partnership in a business there.

Jimmie's regular recreation is ocean cruising.

Christian was Parachute Instructor in the French Foreign Legion and moved to civilian jumping with French Instructor Endorsements "A" through "H".  

He immigrated to Australia in 1963 and joined Southern Cross Skydivers.   He studied Australian parachuting operational procedures and became APF Instructor 28.

He married a local girl and went to live in Paris before returning to Australia in 1976 and jumping with Southern Cross at Labertouche.

Christian broke his leg landing in the target pit at Labertouche in January 1977 and was taken to hospital.  He discharged himself from the hospital and tragically died a few days later from an embolism.

Denis was an advanced student when the club moved to Labertouche.

He progressed to Instructor and held APF Instructor Rating 148

Like many others, he eventually married, settled down to raise a family.

He broke a leg and was out of action for a long time.   He and wife Roeli had Snowtels Caravan Park in Cooma for many years and they still live in the Cooma area. 

Denis attended the Southern Cross Skydivers reunion at Tooradin in 2007 and is now retired.

John made his first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers at Pakenham on the ??/??/??

He was a Club Instructor, was Australian Style Champion 1968 and an excellent accuracy jumper.   

John was a member of the Australian Parachute Team that took part in the 9th World Parachuting Championships at Graz, Austria, in 1968.

A Plumber, he never miss a weekend or other chance to practice his skills and was supported by his partner Carrol, who often was his parachute packer.

John married Carol and set to building a plumbing business.  He and Carol still keep in touch with the old Southern Cross Skydivers jumpers and he attended the 2007 Southern Cross Skydivers reunion at Tooradin.

Alan made his first jump on the 10th of January 1965 at Pakenham with Southern Cross Skydivers.    He was a hard core jumper and soon became an Instructor and obtained APF Instructor Rating No. 109

Alan was APF Judge No. 13 and judged many competitions.

He was a Laboratory Technician with the Defence Department and was dedicated to his job and his jumping.

The Gardner family were local farmers that had an interest in aviation and Alan was entranced by Carolyn, one of the daughters.  They married in 1968 and after living on the other side of Melbourne in Melton for many years, now live in the Latrobe Valley area.

Ron Pearsall

1965

Ron started jumping with 1 RVR Parachute Club under Bill Molloy and was a hard core jumper with Southern Cross Skydivers for many years.  He made his first jump at Pakenham on the 15th of July 1962

He became Secretary and organised the social side of the club.

Ron organised the first Southern Cross Skydivers reunion at Labertouche in 1971.

He jumped in the 13th Australian Parachute Championships (73/74) at the Centre.

He was an optical technician and also spent some years working on the north-west coast of Australia; cut off from mainstream jumping.  He was a keen amateur photographer, he produced some credible posters.

Ron was one of the first jumpers to switch from fore and aft equipment to the piggyback system and is seen at left wearing an early Crossbow system.

We have lost contact with Ron, if you know of his whereabouts, let him know that we would welcome contact.

He was an experienced Parachute Packer when he came to the Club and started duties as Club Packer in November 1962.

She was Victorian Champion accuracy jumper in the early 60's.  Her father was a rails bookmaker at Flemington and as he was never free on weekends, he took private lessons midweek with Southern Cross Skydivers and hired an aircraft midweek when he wanted to jump.

Helen first acted as Jumpmaster on the 27th of December 1962.

She married and gave up parachuting soon after Labertouche commenced operations.

First jumped with the Club in 1965.

Bernie's first jump was at Labertouche with Southern Cross Skydivers on October 30th 1967.     

He became President of Southern Cross Skydivers, Latrobe Valley when it became known as Latrobe Valley Skydivers.   In time he became the parachuting king of the Latrobe Valley (a large agricultural and open cut mining region in Victoria to the east of Labertouche).

If you needed someone to jump into a wedding, a football match, a union meeting or even a birthday party, you could get in touch with Bernie and he would arrange it.   Some of Bernie's Latrobe Valley parachute displays would have been on the fringe of legality but they were always carried out with the utmost care for safety.

If the conversation turns to "parachuting firsts" Bernie is likely to point out that he made the first "legal" jump from a glider in Australia.   

He organised the Australian Chapter of POPS (Parachutists Over Phorty) and was inaugural Australian Top Pop from 1981 until 1994.   He and Tony Edwards organised the first World POPS Meet at the Ettamogah Pub near Albury in 19??

Roy Taylor

Roy's first jump was at Labertouche on the 25th of February 1968.  He came to the Centre as a pilot, he was manager of the Royal Victorian Aero Club and like most private pilots was looking for flying hours.     Before he left to run Meredith Parachute Club, he had more than 3,000 jumps.    He was a staunch member of Southern Cross Skydivers and represented the club at the Victorian Parachute Council for some years.

He became a senior instructor and trained a large number of ab initio students.    In 19?? he went to Meredith Parachute Club as temporary chief Instructor and soon decided that he would stay there in that position.  He spent the remainder of his involvement skydiving with that club.

Roy and Claude Gillard made a jump from a hot air balloon at Labertouche and in the photo on the left, he is standing in the basket of the balloon about to take off for the jump.

Tug's first jump was at Labertouche with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 7th of September 1969, he earned his APF "A" Certificate on the 1st of December 1969, B 413 on the 1st of February 1970, C349 on the 1st of November 1970, D 255 on the 1st of April 1971, E 125 on the 1st of September 1971 and APF Instructor Rating 178 on the 1st of April 1972.    He was Secretary/Treasurer of Southern cross Skydivers for many years.

He was a partner in VH-AGF "Swampy" and was a core jumper and pilot at the Centre until he married and decided to sail his yacht around the world.  He and Diane circumnavigated the globe and were half way around the second time before settling down in Clearwater, Florida, USA, where Tug's computer skills were in demand.

Tug now lives in Clearwater, Florida USA where it appears that the local IT Industry made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

He visits Australia to see his family occasionally, maybe we will be able organise one of our Southern Cross Skydivers reunions to coincide with one of his visits.

An active member of Southern Cross Skydivers, Andrew first jumped at Labertouche on the 7th of February 1971 from VH-AVV and he last jumped at the Centre on the 17th of February 1980 from VH-AGF nine years later.

He was a tireless worker for both the Club and the APF.

One of skydiving's gentlemen, he has returned to work in banking IT and lives in Sydney with his wife and son.

Alex was a New Zealand jumper who emigrated to Australia and jumped with Southern Cross Skydivers at Labertouche for some years.

He took over the role of President from Claude Gillard in 197? and remained in the post until his employment took him away from the area.

Alison was an early member of Southern Cross Skydivers and made sport parachuting her life for some years.  Her first jump on the 3rd of December 1961 was the first student jump onto the Geelong Common and she became a well known skydiver jumping at many dropzones from Newcastle to Adelaide.

A nurse, she was outgoing and popular on the dropzones wherever she went.

At a time when few females were interested in sport parachuting, she was able to overcome the bias there was towards female jumpers.   Many of the top Instructors in the sport at that time refused absolutely to train female students.   Their reason; females were less than 10% of the jumpers in the USA and suffered 25% of the injuries.

Alison married and gave up the sport.   If you read this Alison, give us some information on where you are.    We have reunions every now and again.

The first record we can find of Dave's training jumps with the club are on the 8th of July 1962

Tom made his first jump with Southern cross Skydivers at Pakenham on the 6th of November 1962.

He organised a Parachute Search and Rescue Unit of the St George Ambulance Service.

Ray was an early club member and was a regular at Pakenham every weekend for a long time.

A friend of Charl Stewart and Bill Sparke, Ray was present at the 7th Anniversary of the Club, held in the Southern Cross Shed at Labertouche Parachute Centre.

Tommy made his first jump at Pakenham with Southern Cross Skydivers on the ??/??/??

Part of the Southern Cross core group, his happy face and disposition brightened any outing or event that he attended.

Tommy attended the 2007 Southern Cross Skydivers reunion at Tooradin, Victoria.

He went on the qualify for a Parachutist Certificate but we are unlikely to get a photograph.   He was camera shy and did not like to participate in camera shoots.

A foundation member, Billy was on the first sport parachuting course to be held in Victoria with Charl Stewart and Bill Sparke. 

He was on every load on the C-47 made available by the RAAF for the Air-Force Day Parachuting Display in 1963.   On the practice days and the big event.

John made his first jump on Southern Cross Skydivers inaugural student jump day at Koo Wee Rup Airfield.

Helmut Hor

Johnno made his first jump on Southern Cross Skydivers inaugural student jump day at Koo Wee Rup Airfield.   

He was a stalwart member of the club and was a member of 1 RVR, the CMF military unit that was based in the Footscray Drill Hall where the club conducted its Thursday night and weekend training sessions for ab initio students.

In 1964, he and Claude collided at about 100ft over Pakenham airstrip, their 'chutes entangled and everyone heard Claude call to Johnno in his best instructor fashion "Feet and knees tight together", they hit rather hard, Johnno got up and dusted himself off to find that Claude had a broken ankle.

He was an APF Judge and judged competitions for a number of years.

Johnno was still with the club when it celebrated its 7th Anniversary at Labertouche Sport Parachute Centre in 1971.

Terry Lappin

Then

Terry first jumped with Southern Cross Skydivers at Labertouche on March 2nd 1974.

He was active in the Latrobe Valley area and always ready for a display jump, a water jump or any other kind of jump that might be offering.

N. Maajor

T. Marchant

Ken made his first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 31st of March 1963.

Bill Molloy's sister, Carmel, made her first jump with Southern cross Skydivers on the 27th of January 1963.

Jan made her first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers, Latrobe Valley on the 4th of November 1962.

Represented Australia at the 11th Would Parachuting Championships in Thalaquah, Oklahoma USA in 1972 and was Team Leader of the Australian Team "The Gully Cats" that went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, USA, for the First World Cup of Relative Work in 1973.

Was married to two legendary skydivers: Bob Morrison who was killed in a car accident on his way home from a skydiving party and later to Geoff Bingham.   

When her second marriage broke up, she sailed her yacht to Tasmania and did a bit of lobster fishing.   She sailed as Engineer on cruise boats up the Gordon River, was Master of the "SS James Goodwin" for some time and worked in Remote Area Nursing whilst living in Zeehan, Tasmania.    Jan passed away recently and her ashes were scattered at sea off Strahan, Tasmania.

 Club's first student jumper.  Static line separated at snap hook resulting in a total
 malfunction of the main parachute (pack remained closed).  Jumper carried out faultless
 emergency procedures and landed safely.   The club had Trooper Static Lines airfreighted in from the USA.

Barbara's first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 15th of July 1962.

Barbara was a staunch club member and travelled with the club interstate to jump on occasions.

Les was a New Zealand jumper and pilot who joined the Club while working in Australia and was around for a couple of years.

Chesty, later to become Walter Sheppard, did his first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 24th December 1961, progressed to free fall and later did the Army Parachute Course at RAAF Williamtown, NSW.

Did a tour of duty in Vietnam with the advisory team, retired as a Major and now lives in Halifax, North Queensland.

He became a core member of Wimmera Skydivers based in Nhill.

N was a member of 1 RVR Parachute Club.   He made his first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers on the 15th of July 1962.

Foundation Member.   First jump as a military paratrooper at Williamtown RAAF Base NSW.

Commenced recreational parachuting with Victorian Parachute School.

Geoff made his first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers at Pakenham on the 23rd of September 1962.

Harry made his first jump with Southern Cross Skydivers at Pakenham on the 23rd of September 1962.

Unfortunately, most of the clubs records went with a Club Secretary when he disappeared in the mid sixties, people recorded here have been gleaned from whatever documents are available.

On ??/??/?? Toni made a baton pass attempt and over-delayed, opening her parachute too late with fatal consequences.

Beryl Blakemore

1966

Visiting New South Wales jumper:  Beryl visited the club at Pakenham on the 30th of January 1964 to take part in the world's best performance baton pass.       Photo

She represented Australia at the 7th World Parachuting Championships in Leutkirch, West Germany.

He was a South Australian pioneer jumper, one of Australia's early competition jumpers and represented Australia at the 7th WPC at Leutkirch, West Germany 1964 and the Adriatic Cup in Yugoslavia 1965.

He remained overseas for some time. on his return attended a national Championships at Labertouche.   He was the creator of Gatehouse Jumping craze.

Brian joined the RAAF, became an RAAF pilot, flew Vampire fighters, helicopter gunships in Vietnam, Sabres, Macchis and retired as a Wing Commander in 199?  he now flies Learjets and lives in Nowra.

Along the way he married Susie Wright, another Leutkirch team member.   They have now separated.

Keith and Graham Grigg were the initial instructors with McKenzie's Flying School Parachute Wing, before establishing the Victorian Parachute School.   At the time of Southern Cross Skydivers' beginning the school was operating from Pakenham East Airfield.

After finding the Koo Wee Rup Airfield to be unsuitable for student parachutists with the equipment then available, Southern Cross Skydivers approached the Victorian Parachute School with a view to sharing the Pakenham airfield.   The School was kind enough to agree and the Club began operations at Pakenham.

The Victorian Parachute School ceased operations in 196? and Keith suffered an attack from cancer.  He fought it for many years before it getting the better of him.  He was truly one of sport parachuting's pioneers in Australia.

One of the movers and shakers in sport parachuting, Trevor organised the 6th Australian Parachute Championships at Port Pirie in 1965/66

He was Editor and Publisher of Australian Skydiver magazine from 1965 to 1970.   The magazine was a significant factor in the development of Australian Skydiving.

He was Team Leader of the Australian Team at the 2nd World Championship in Relative Work held at Gatton-Laws, Queensland 1977.

After a long stint as an APF Board Member and involvement in Australia's first large dedicated jumpship (DC-3 VH-CAN) he joined the Department of Civil Aviation as a Sport Aviation Inspector and eventually became its Regional Director of New South Wales.

On retiring from the Department, he has enjoyed sailing his yacht and is now settled on the Queensland coast.

Kathy Burrow

Cathy was the author of the first book on skydiving "Falling Free" published in Australia.

Robert Cawse

Was a competitor at the 1st Victorian Parachute Championships at Wangaratta in 1962 hosted by the Club.

He was a regular visitor at the Pakenham East dropzone.

Visiting Victorian Parachute School instructor.  Tom first jumped with the Club at Pakenham on the 1st of September 1962.

He was inaugural Chief Instructor of the Victorian Parachute Club that was formed from the members of the Victorian Parachute School when it ceased operations in 19??

He developed a parachute school in Bendigo, Victoria and 

A Victoria and Australian Accuracy Champion, she was well respected in Australian Sport Parachuting.

Graham Grigg U

1961

He made a baton pass at Pakenham with Claude Gillard on the 29th of July 1962.

Graham and Keith Bullied were the initial instructors with McKenzie's Flying School Parachute Wing, before establishing the Victorian Parachute School.   At the time of Southern Cross Skydivers' beginning the school was operating from Pakenham East Airfield.

After finding the Koo Wee Rup Airfield to be unsuitable for student parachutists with the equipment then available, Southern Cross Skydivers approached the Victorian Parachute School with a view to sharing the Pakenham airfield.   The School was kind enough to agree and the Club began operations at Pakenham.

Graham contracted cancer and died.   Graham and Keith were the first civilian Parachute Instructors in Victoria and true pioneers of sport parachuting in Australia.

Edward 
Harrison U

1963

2004

Visiting South Australian jumper:  Ted first jumped with Southern Cross Skydivers at Pakenham on the 26th of August 1961.   It was his first sport jump.  He had travelled to Melbourne to sit in on a Southern Cross Skydivers instructor course to enable him to be ahead of the norm as South Australian recreational parachuting developed.

First jump was onto Salt Ash at RAAF Williamtown as a 2nd Lt. in the Citizens Military Forces and he was the leading figure in the early development of sport parachuting in South Australia.   Organised a public meeting to form the South Australian School of
Parachuting at Parafield in 1961.  

Held Australian Parachutist Certificate E4 and was issued with Senior Instructor Rating 9

As a journalist, was able to assist the Australian Parachute Federation with access to the media.   His efforts were of great assistance in the APF gaining the respect of the Department of Civil Aviation.

Was South Australian representative on the APF Executive and helped shape the early safety rules.   His colourful language often made conservative jumpers wince but his straight talk and ability as a skydiver endeared him to all.

Made 50 jumps in one day at Wilton, New South Wales, in a Jumpathon to raise money for the Australian Parachute Team to attend the World Championships.

 Was an active competition judge and judged at multiple Australian National Champion-
ships at a time when there were few jumpers in the country capable of judging at that level.  He held APF Judge Rating Number 10.  

Ted challenged the norm and was prepared to live at the edge of the envelope in all aspects of his life.

All who knew him will be sad to hear that Ted died of natural causes on the morning of June 27th 2004.  He was one of early parachuting's great characters.   A barrel of fun and a hard living legend in his own time. 

Kathryn Henderson U

Visiting South Australian Jumper:  Kathy first jumped with Southern Cross Skydivers at Pakenham on the 24th of March 1962 and was the first Australian female to participate in a baton pass when she and Ted Harrison made a successful pass on their third attempt.

Kathy was the only female member of the first Australian team to compete in a World Parachuting Championships; the 6th WPC at Orange, Massachusetts, USA in 1962.

Kathy became a commercial pilot and was flying commercially in outback Australia.   

Her name is now Kathryn Flinn and she was Australian Governor of "The Ninety Nines, Inc" an International Women Pilots Association.

Kathy died of natural causes while visiting Melbourne recently

He was a Parachuting pioneer in the Sydney area in the early sixties and anyone who knew him would be able to tell you stories about him for at least a whole evening.

A member of 2 Commando Company, Warren approached the Officer Commanding, Major Phillip Bennett (Later General and then Governor of Tasmania) with a proposal to form a unit parachute club.   The OC agreed and 2 Commando Skydivers was born.

He played a considerable role in the development of Victorian Sport Parachuting and won the Gold medal in Delayed Fall Accuracy in the Australasian Parachute Championships in November 1959.

Warren was Vice President of the Australian Parachute Federation 1964/65 and President 1965/66.

He sold up his photographic studio and retired to New South Wales to live the country life and when tired of that sailed a yacht for some years before returning to Melbourne to live a gentleman's retirement till when he died of natural causes.

Johnston U

In 1963, he participated in some relative work jumps and wrote a lyrical article in his "Spring News" newsletter about the jumps, waxing lyrical about gods playing amongst the clouds.

Louis jumped in the NSW Team at the 1st Australian Championships at Pakenham in 1960.   He was a key figure in the early development of the Australian Parachute Federation and he was Treasurer 1963/64 but his employment took him overseas to England for a number of years.

On his return he took up where he had left off and was APF Vice President for 1970/71.   He was particularly active in raising funds for Australian Parachute Teams.   His position as Secretary of Gilbey's Australia opened many doors as did his relationship with Henk Rutgers, a prominent Sydney lawyer.

Louis was Head of Delegation for the Australian Team at the 8th World Championships in Leipzig, East Germany and Team Leader at the 1st World Championships of Relative Work at Warendorf, West Germany in 1975.   

Always keen to stay fit, Louis ran daily and after one of his regular morning runs, had a heart attack and died in the shower.

More  

Andrew Keech

1964

Andy is an APF Master of Sport Parachuting and as a master of freefall photography, he published three editions of  "Skies Call", each a stand alone masterpiece of his art.

He became Australian Overall Champion at the 2nd Australian Parachute Championships in April 1961.  

He and Laurie Trotter made the first baton pass in Australia at Deniliquin, NSW in 1961.

He was one of the small group of very proficient sport parachutists that were prepared to share and teach the finer points of the sport to all who were interested and so helped to build the solid freefall base on which the high standard of Australian skydiving was built.

Andy was a member of the Australian Parachute Team at the 7th World Parachute Championships, Leutkirk, Germany 1964, he travelled on from there to the the USA where he worked for the Australian Embassy and the the New Zealand Embassy, alternating appointments for many years.

U

He was a member of the 10-Man Speed Star Team "The Valley Rats" in the 2nd Australian Relative Work Championships (73/74)

Billy was a committed competition jumper and probably one of the best known Victorian jumpers.   He won the gold medal in the World Masters Freefall Style Event in 198?

He had a rapport with the media that did not always work to his advantage.   Bill took sick leave from his job to jump in the Australian Championships in Rockingham, Western Australia.   His photograph appeared on the front page of a Melbourne newspaper reaching for the disc on landing.   He got a telegram from the boss; "Congratulations on your success in the competition, don't bother reporting to work upon your return".

Billy won the Silver medal in the Parachuting Style Event at the World Masters Games in 199?    A true Australian Skydiving Identity.

L. Keating

Colin King

Col represented Australia at 7th World Parachuting Championships, Leutkirch, Germany 1964, the 8th World Championships, Leipzig, East Germany 1966 and the 9th World Championships in Graz, Austria 1968.

At the 9th World Parachuting Championships hosted in, Austria, Colin tied for first place in Individual Accuracy but lost the jump-off,  so winning the silver medal.  Australia's first WPC medal.

The APF's premier award, the title Master of Sport Parachuting was created to honour Colin's achievement.   To put it in perspective, Colin was a weekend jumper from a country where parachuting was a young sport competing against jumpers who spent years of their lives as full time competition jumpers.  it was a remarkable achievement.

Col now lives on the Sunshine Coast, a place that attracts many older jumpers as a place of retirement.

He was a key figure in the development of Commando Skydivers.   A top competition parachutist who represented Australia at World Championships.  He competed at all competition levels; State, National and International and took part in 31 Classic Events as a competitor, before going on to be a world class Meet Director.

David represented Australia at the 8th World Championships, Leipzig, East Germany 1966 and the 9th World Championships, Graz, Austria 1968

His ability as a championship "Meet Director" is well known. He ran the 2nd World Championships in Relative Work at Gatton, Queensland in a professional and efficient manner and at the local level made it easier to conduct national championships by devising an aircraft control system using a metal board and magnetic backed call sign tabs to keep track of each aircraft's altitude and whereabouts.   This may not seem to be important if you are not aware that the last Australian National Championships to use small aircraft had fifteen aircraft participating and aircraft separation was a serious safety concern. 

Jim was a member of Queensland Parachute Club and his work took him to other States and he always carried his gear with him.

He was a regular visitor on his rounds as a wool classer.  He was running a new club in Tasmania and dropped off to jump with the club going and coming.

She was a fashion model and had worked all over the world.

Beverly took part in the 1962 Victorian Championships at Wangaratta

Cathy was the author of the first Australian book on skydiving "Falling Free" published in 196?.

Southern Cross Skydivers Display Jumps

25/04/61

Corryong, Victoria

Charl Stewart, Bill Sparke, Claude Gillard

 24/09/1961

Elizabeth, South Australia

Bill Sparke, Charl Stewart, Claude Gillard & Hans Magnusson  (Australian Altitude/Freefall Record)

Williamstown, Victoria

Bill Sparke, Len Hunter, Danny Wright

25/11/1961

and

26/11/1961

Horsham, Victoria

Charl Stewart, Bill Sparke, Claude Gillard, Hans Magnusson, Steve Filak, Bill Molloy, Warren Hutchings, Paul Komaromy and Tam Dickinson

26/11/1961

Barmera, Sth Australia

Claude Gillard and Hans Magnusson

25/02/1963

Glenmaggie Weir - Vic.
        Water Jumps

Bill Sparke, Bill Molly, Bill Gully, Steve Filak, Rick Meerkin, Christian David, Jim McLean, Paul Komaromy, Jock Moir, G. Vaughan, Harry Weaver, Dave Calvert, Peter McDonald, Alison Baxter, Marshall Power, Niels Asche, Bill Kenny and Bob Cause

10/03/1963

Morwell Airfield

Bill Sparke, Claude Gillard, Steve Filak, Joe Finta, Paul Komaromi, Bill Molloy, Len Hunter, Geoff Hunter, Rick Meerkin, Tom Ennis and Jim McLean.

14/04/1963

Corryong, Vic.

Bill Gully, Len Hunter, Geoff Hunter, Rick Meerkin, Tom Ennis, and Dave Calvert.

15/04/1963

Bairnsdale, Vic.

Len Hunter, Rick Meerkin, Jock Moir, Tom Ennis, Jim McLean, Alison Baxter, Joe Finta, Harry Weaver.

02/09/1963

Glenmaggie Weir - Vic.

Steve Filak, Bill Sparke and Jock Moir

21/11/1963

Currie, King Island Show

Claude Gillard, Bill Molloy & Len Hunter

28/12/1964

Glenmaggie Weir - Vic.

Claude Gillard, Len Hunter & Jim Davis

01/01/1965

Lake Benanee, NSW

Gillard, Hunter & Davis Baton Pass
Gillard, Molloy, Hunter, Davis, Ron Pearsall & Tom Ennis

01/02/1965

Glenmaggie Wier, Vic.

??  ??  ??  ??

09/02/1965

Hobart Regatta, Tas.

Claude Gillard, Len Hunter & Jim Davis

14/02/1965

Hazelwood Pondage

Len Hunter, Rick Meerkin,  ??, ??.

14/03/1965

Swan Hill Air Show

Len Hunter, Rick Meerkin,  ??, ??.

 23/06/1974

 Bunyip Hospital Lawn

Alex McQuibban, Steve Filak, Tony Hillman, Roy Taylor, Tony Curl. 

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