A company known as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited was formed in Winton on November 16, 1920, by World War I pilots Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness with financial support from a group of graziers headed by Fergus McMaster.

The business was moved to Longreach the following year, where the first hangar was built. The first scheduled mail and passenger flight from Charleville to Cloncurry departed on November 2, 1922.

Ninety years on, Qantas is now the second-oldest operational airline in the world (KLM was formed in 1919 and now operates as the Air France-KLM group).

There's a lot of important history to cover but it was only in September 2005 that the Qantas Heritage Collection opened in a space above Domestic Terminal T3 at Sydney's Mascot airport. Entry is adjacent to Gate 13 and admission is free (Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 4.30pm) but it would be well worth a payment for the panoramic view of the runways.

This project began in the 1990s, when a group of former Qantas employees decided their own history was in danger of being lost. There is also the Qantas Founders Outback Museum in Longreach, which is perhaps better known to the general public. This is an independent operation, although the airline has given this museum its blessing and has members on the board.

Only recently have large corporations such as Qantas decided their own heritage is worth preserving and, in this case, presented it to the public. Fortunately, a lot of material had been kept by Qantas employees and several important pieces have since been donated.

Qantas memorabilia has been collected by the public for some time. Much of it is ephemera such as tickets and timetables but occasionally something exceptionally rare turns up, such as a pair of wicker chairs used in pre-war aircraft by the pilot and navigator. These were donated recently by a family who found them in a farm shed. They were made by the Jubilee Institute in Auckland and a long-serving Qantas employee identified them as the real thing. They are significant pieces.

Other important finds include the winter and summer uniforms worn by Australia's first female flight attendants on the Qantas Empire Airways Lockheed Constellation L749 aircraft, which operated between Sydney and London in 1948.

The pre-war Empire Class flying boat period 1938/1939 is especially popular with collectors, partly because of the romance of travel in this time.

Flying during daylight hours, these huge passenger aircraft took about 12 days to reach London from Sydney (with overnight stops at luxury hotels on the way).

A desirable item is edition No.1 of the Empire Airways in-flight magazine, published in 1935. Copies are now worth about $150. Menus, tickets and brochures are also valuable. Cabin tickets for the Coolangatta (flying boats were named in the manner of ships) are also worth about $150.

Uniforms worn by the flight attendants or pilots would be verging on priceless. Some of the ones in the Heritage Collection are the only examples known to exist.

A timeline display of flight attendants' uniforms is a feature of the Heritage Collection. Ones from the 1960s and '70s are now very hard to find. Hostesses, as they were once called, were supposed to hand back their uniforms when they retired or when the uniforms were updated. Not all did and those that escaped into the public domain would now be worth up to $1000 if complete and in good condition.

Aerophilately is another popular area for airline collectors. This includes first flight covers, with the earliest examples now hugely valuable. Charles Leski in Melbourne is a specialist in this area; his Canberra representative, Tom Frommer, is one of Australia's biggest collectors.

Last year Leski sold the collection of the late Nelson Eustis, which included a Qantas envelope signed by McGinness and Fysh and carried on the first Charleville to Cloncurry flight. It sold for $12,815.

An envelope carried on the first flight of the extended Camooweal service sold for $4660. Another for a special airmail service due to a railway strike sold for $1750.

Related items are the bags used to carry the mail, often specially printed to mark the occasion. Also important are early documents, such as a menu owned by Tom Frommer from the 10th-anniversary dinner for Qantas employees, signed by all the important figures, including McMaster, the grazier who became the first Qantas chairman. Frommer gives this menu a value of several thousand dollars.

The early tickets are also collectable but surprisingly available, according to Leski. It seems people kept their tickets as souvenirs in the early days. Pre-war tickets in good condition bring up to $200 at auction, although one of the very early ones, from 1922 or 1923, could be worth as much as $1000. These are 2010 prices. Most collectors are looking forward to 2020, when Qantas centenary fever should increase the values of their collections greatly.

Worth noting is that Qantas ticket No.1, issued to passenger Alexander Kennedy, has been reproduced widely over the years. In 1970, 70,000 copies were printed, so if you think you have the original ticket, think again. It's in the custody of the Queensland Historical Society.

More accessible are the kinds of memorabilia you could have picked up on flights in the past. Promotional items, packs of playing cards, cutlery, jigsaw puzzles for the kids and even Qantas cigarette lighters are now keenly collected.

Cigarette lighters have risen in value because smoking on aircraft is now a thing of the past. The non-smoking ban was implemented progressively on Qantas flights - at one stage smoking was forbidden in Australia but allowed on overseas flights. Once the coastline was crossed on an international flight, smokers were able to light up. The lighter shown here, bearing the distinctive V-Jet logo, is from the early 1960s. These are worth a considerable amount to Qantas collectors.

$100

Vintage Qantas cigarette lighters (and matching box) are considered curiosities in these non-smoking times. The V-Jet logo dates this one to the early '60s.

$700

This 1923 ticket is from one of the early Qantas flights from Blackall to Charleville. Memorabilia from this very early period is increasingly hard to find. Its value should increase in 2020.

$125

First flight covers, plus the mail bags produced for special flights, are keenly sought by aerophilatelists. This envelope marks the first Constellation "longest hop" flight from Sydney to London in 1947. It has been signed by the pilots.

My Collection

"I'm an airline tragic," admits Des Sullivan, a former newspaper journalist who later became a Qantas public relations executive. He was dragged out of retirement to become manager of the Qantas Heritage Collection in 2005.

He was pleasantly surprised to find just how much important memorabilia had been kept by his fellow employees, including the founder Hudson Fysh.

This ranges from complete engines kept by engineers — a breed who don't like throwing anything away — to filing cabinets of publicity photos. These include images of Frank Sinatra arriving in Sydney for the first time.

Sullivan says the Heritage Collection policy is not to buy items although donations are welcome. For those who think they have a valuable piece and want some money for it, he recommends selling on eBay.

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