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'Charles Ulm with his mother and father', 1914

Image 'Charles Ulm with his mother and father', 1914

TLF ID R3344

This is a 20.3 cm x 25.8 cm black-and-white photograph taken in 1914, of Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm (1898-1934), aged 16, with his parents, Emile Gustave and Ada Emma Ulm. Charles is wearing a First World War Australian Imperial Force (AIF) uniform.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This asset shows 16-year-old Charles Ulm dressed in his army uniform - an inscription on the back of the photograph by a collector of aviation photographs, Ernest Crome, reads: 'Charles Ulm with his mother and father, Mr and Mrs E.G. Ulm. Charles Ulm enlisted under the assumed name of Jackson at 16 years (under age) & served at Gallipoli with the Anzacs in 1st Battalion. He was wounded & returned home & discharged being under age. Re-enlisted & served with 45th Battalion A.I.F. in France. Again wounded & honorably discharged 20/3/19 (Crome)'.
  • It depicts Charles Ulm in his youth - Ulm later travelled with Charles Kingsford-Smith (1897-1935) on some of his record-breaking flights, including the first trans-Pacific flight in the 'Southern Cross' in 1928 and the first nonstop trip across Australia; following this, the pair formed Australian National Airways Ltd, aiming to link Australia to the rest of the world through commercial flights; however, after initial success, the company went out of business in 1933; Ulm then flew trial mail flights from Australia to New Zealand and Papua New Guinea; on 3 December 1934, Ulm and his two crew died when the 'Stella Australis' disappeared on a trans-Pacific flight from New Zealand to the USA.
  • It shows a photograph collected by Ernest Crome - Crome's collection of photographs of early aeroplane flights in Australia was made between about 1911 and 1934 and is indicative of the high level of interest in aviation at the time.
  • It is part of the National Library of Australia's large aviation collection - in 2003, to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first Pacific crossing, the Ulm family donated Charles's papers, medals and photographs; Charles Ulm's log, written in the cockpit of the 'Southern Cross', is now the centrepiece of the National Library's aviation collection.
Topics Families Air pilots Military service Australian history Enlistment Martyrdom World War I

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: National Library of Australia
  • Organization: National Library of Australia
  • Description: Content provider
  • URL: http://www.nla.gov.au
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: National Library of Australia
  • Organization: National Library of Australia
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Colour independence
  • Device independence
  • Hearing independence
Learning Resource Type
  • Image
Rights
  • © Education Services Australia Ltd and National Library of Australia, 2013, except where indicated under Acknowledgements