Art Deco and Ansett – both consigned to history

I’m sorry – I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

It was just before Christmas last year, and I was in Innisfail taking photos of some Art Deco buildings when I saw these signs.

I’d seen them before, when I worked in Innisfail as a young radio DJ more than 30 years before – and I couldn’t help but chuckle that they were still there.

It’s a pair of signs that promote Ansett and Qantas – the aviation duopoly that dominated Australia’s skies for decades. Yes. Well. In 2015?

For those unfamiliar with Australian aviation history, it is somewhat unlikely that the travel agent in this building would be able to ‘book here for Ansett Airlines of Australia’ – unless they have a time machine 🙂

I know – because I flew on one of the last flights Ansett ever undertook, on September 11 2001 (about six hours before the terrorist attacks using commercial airliners in the US).

You see, Ansett Airlines – which had been a giant in Australian travel – effectively went belly-up in the week of September 11 2001 after a disastrous period under the control of Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited and then a flirtation with Air New Zealand.

That’s 15 years next ago next week .. and yet, the travel agent in Innisfail is still offering a booking service, according to the facade of their building.

Which is a bit like the Art Deco that I’d gone to Innisfail to photograph .. it’s outlived its time, but is still a fascinating look back into history.

And both can raise a smile and a sense of nostalgia.