THE first children’s novel to be set in Albury was launched last night, capturing an important piece of the city’s history.
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Eighty years ago at midnight on October 23, the Albury power grid flashed on and off to save the Uiver, a lost Dutch plane.
Author Loretta Re said she couldn’t believe no one had written about it as she launched her children’s book Stand Up and Cheer at the Library Museum.
“I was inspired to write the book after I saw the exhibition here at the Library Museum,” she said.
“I was so blown away and wondered why no one had written a children’s novel about this.
“I thought the children of Albury really deserve to have a story they can be proud of.”
The book is a fictionalised account of the 1934 Great Centenary Air Race from London to Melbourne.
Check out bordermail.com.au online tomorrow for a photo gallery looking back on that remarkable night in Albury's history.
The Uiver was the biggest plane in the fleet, but after hitting a severe electrical storm in Queensland it flew off course ending up in Albury.
Albury man Reg Turner made the town’s lights flash ALBURY in morse code to let the plane know where they were.
Meanwhile, radio 2CO chief announcer Arthur Newnham interrupted his station’s programming to rally the community to take their cars to the racecourse and light up a makeshift runway for the plane to land.
Re will read to Border students at another public launch held at the Library Museum at 10am today.