RAAF supports Olympic torch relay

The flame for the Games of the XVI Olympiad in Melbourne was carried on board a RAAF Canberra jet bomber from Darwin to Cairns, Queensland, which was the start point for a torch relay down the eastern coast of Australia. The flame, carried in two miners’ safety lamps (one a spare), had arrived from Greece on a Qantas airliner on the evening of 6 November and was handed to the Commanding Officer of the RAAF Station at Darwin for custody. After a civic reception next day, the flame was placed in a Canberra aircraft and flown nearly 1500 kilometres to Cairns, where it began a 4500-kilometre torch relay to Melbourne.