In December 1935 and 1937, Albury mayor Alfred Waugh received Christmas cards from the Australian Broadcasting Commission. They were unsigned, and we do not know who the sender was.
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The Commissioners are named. William J Cleary was Chairman. Mr Cleary certainly could have been the sender, but we know of no specific connection between him and Albury.
From April 1930 to early in 1935, Major Walter Tasman Conder was the ABC's General Manager, and he had indirect connection with Albury through Arthur Newnham, who was employed part-time as a newsreader by the ABC and full-time by Albury as manager of its electrical goods enterprise.
Newnham had rushed to the ABC Radio 2CO studio and broadcast an appeal for motorists to go to the Albury Racecourse and use their car's headlights to illuminate a landing strip for the Uiver.
Before becoming General Manager, Major Conder was on the Melbourne Centenary Celebrations Council, and had suggested an air race from London to Darwin, followed by a leisurely flight to Wangaratta and a handicap race from Wangaratta to Melbourne.
This was the first iteration of the Air Race that Sir Macpherson Robertson ultimately sponsored.
After the air race had concluded, Conder sought information from Arthur Newnham as to the Albury persons who had helped to save the Dutch aircraft, and details of the forthcoming delegation from the Dutch East Indies.
But Conder was dismissed early in 1935 and therefore could not have sent ABC Christmas cards to Alfred Waugh in December 1935 and 1937.
Arthur Newnham also had significant contact with the ABC's General Manager for Victoria, Thomas Bearup. Bearup had phoned Newnham from Melbourne to admonish him for interfering in the Air Race.
Newnham's future in the ABC was in jeopardy, but just at that time, the Uiver began circling the Albury Racecourse.
The unfolding drama of the dropping of two parachute flares and the extraordinary landing was described to Newnham by senior mechanic Bob Matthews, who was on another phone speaking with Beatrice Peacock in her home overlooking the racecourse. So, Newnham reiterated this to Bearup, who relayed the information to radio announcers, who broadcast the safe landing to the world.
The ABC received many accolades for Newnham's outstanding initiative and no more was heard concerning his dismissal!
Thomas Bearup, therefore, remains a candidate for having sent ABC Christmas cards to Alfred Waugh. But the bottom line is that we will never know for sure.
For more information on the landing of the Uiver, refer to https://alburyhistory.org.au/resources/downloads/
