Mrs Lores Bonney

Lores Bonney was born in 1897 in Pretoria South Africa. She began flying lessons in August She married Harry Bonney in 1917 and moved to Brisbane. Harry Bonney was a Brisbane leathergoods manufacturer.

She was born Maude Rose Rubens but later adopted the name Lores. She first flew in Bert Hinkler’s Avian and this inspired her to learn to fly. When she began taking flying lessons in 1930, she kept it a secret from her husband.

Her husband bought her a Gypsy Moth aeroplane. This was the plane she used when she began her record breaking flights. In 1932 she was the first woman to fly all the way around Australia. In 1933 she was the first woman to fly from Australia to England. She was the first person to fly from Australia to South Africa in Lores Bonney died in 1994 at the age of 96. In 1936 Old Sandgate Road was renamed Bonney Avenue after Lores Bonney.