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Remarks by Ed Coates: "Photo taken just prior to this aircraft accompanying the Australian National Antartic Research Expedition. It was destroyed in a blizzard in Antartica in 1959. In the mid-1950s the Commonwealth started to get very nationalistic. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and other members decided they no longer wanted to use the RAF roundel. They wanted their own centerpiece. N.Z. got its Kiwi, Canada went for the Maple Leaf, but Australia had a problem deciding what they wanted. This aircraft displays the first attempt at the Kangaroo emblem. It carries an insignia which was never officially adopted by the RAAF, facetiously known as the "Pregnant Kangaroo". The "Flying" Kangaroo (currently in use) was the one finally adopted (and a much nicer one it is too, albeit that it looks like QANTAS' trade mark at the time) but in 1956 several aircraft were, in fact, painted with the version shown here!"
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