On 4 October 2015 the long awaited bronze statue of Captain H. J. (Harry) Butler AFC (9 November 1889 - 30 July 1924) was finally unveiled after 6 long years of fundraising for the $75,000 project by the Harry Butler Committee at Minlaton.
This life-size bronze statue sculptured by Tim Thomson depicts Harry in the role that he was most loved and known for, becoming the first man to fly across the Gulf St Vincent from Adelaide to Minlaton with the first bag of airmail to be carried across water in the southern hemisphere on August 6, 1919. Around the statue lays memorial pavers which were laid the same time as the statue.
On 17 August 2009 a Fund was launched for the Harry Butler Statue at the 90th Anniversary Re-enactment celebrations.
Dick Smith, also an aviator, flew in to be a part of the 90th Anniversary Re-enactment celebrations and launched the Harry Butler Statue Fund by donating $2,000.
Special guests such as Captain Crawford, Mayor Richard Thorne (City of Unley), Mrs Vonnie Faulkner (representing the Butler family), Acting Director National Trust SA Graham Hancock and Mayor Ray Agnew were there at the opening of the fund.
Further donations by the National Trust and by the public were given on the day raising the fund to around $5,000.
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