Stinker’s History: The airfield that could have been Myall Coast Port Stephens by News Of The Area - Modern Media - November 2, 2023 Nelson Bay fisherman ‘Clanka’ Mclean motored out to the island in his trawler towing a raft large enough to carry a plane. FEW are aware that an air strip was planned on Broughton Island. A group of developers had visions of subdividing the island for land sale with an airfield considered essential for the promotion of their enterprise. Surveyors had visited the island and pegs had been driven into the sandy soil. Tractors and diggers were transported onto the island in the early 1960s to construct an airstrip, complete with air sock, suitable for the landing and taking off of small planes. There was a problem in that the island was pitted with the burrows of mutton birds and rabbits. The first and only effort to land was a disaster with the Cessna nosediving. A greater problem followed when the plane attempted a take off. The required speed could not be reached so the plane was dismantled and towed back, on a raft, to the mainland by a trawler. The planned development of the airfield and the sale of land ceased. By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE The plane was eventually moved from the island to the raft for the trip back into Nelson Bay.
