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.





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.

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