In March of 1927 Millicent Bryant became the first woman to be licensed as a pilot in Australia, she was a widow with three adult sons when she decided that she would learn to fly at the age of 49. She completed her training within four months . Sadly Millicent's aviation dreams were tragically taken when she was killed in a ferry accident on Sydney Harbour in November 1927.
In August of 1927 two more Australian women gained their pilot's licences, Margaret Reardon and Evelyn Follett taking the total to 3 female pilots with Class A licences in Australia.
Records show that by the year 1930, there were 28 Australian women with Class 'A' licences, which now days is referred to as a Private Pilot Licence.
The very first Australian woman to be issued with a Class 'B' licence in June 1929 - which is now known as a Commercial Pilot Licence was a lady by the name of Phyllis Arnott. A descendent of the famous Arnott's biscuit family, Phyllis went on to become an opera singer and never used her Class B licence for commercial aviation purposes.
The youngest female Commercial Pilot in the British Commonwealth at the age of 19 years old was Australia's most high profile woman pilot, Nancy Bird-Walton. Nancy became the first Australian female pilot to be employed in the industry and she later went on to form the Australian Women Pilots' Association in 1950.