Lawrence Hargrave, MRAeS,[1] (29 January 1850 – 6 July 1915)[nb 1] was an Australian engineer, explorer, astronomer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer.

He was perhaps best known for inventing the box kite, which was quickly adopted by other aircraft designers and subsequently formed the aerodynamic basis of early biplanes.

Although he had shown ability in mathematics at his English school he failed the matriculation examination and in 1867 took an engineering apprenticeship with the Australasian Steam Navigation Company in Sydney.

From October 1875 to January 1876 he was exploring the hinterland of Port Moresby under Octavius Stone, and in April 1876 went on another expedition under Luigi D'Albertis for over 400 miles up the Fly River on the SS Ellengowan.

When his father died in 1885,[4] and Hargrave came into his inheritance, he resigned from the observatory to concentrate on full-time research and for a time gave particular attention to the flight of birds.

[6] Among many, three of Hargrave's inventions were particularly significant: He made endless experiments and numerous models, and communicated his conclusions in a series of papers to the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Of great significance to those pioneers working toward powered flight, Hargrave successfully lifted himself off the ground under a train of four of his box kites at Stanwell Park Beach on 12 November 1894.

Aided by James Swain, the caretaker at his property, the kite line was moored via a spring balance to two sandbags (see image).

[8] Hargrave claimed that "The particular steps gained are the demonstration that an extremely simple apparatus can be made, carried about, and flown by one man; and that a safe means of making an ascent with a flying machine, of trying the same without any risk of accident, and descending, is now at the service of any experimenter who wishes to use it.

It is not clear what really happened, but there appears to have been delays in accepting the models, and in the meantime about 100 of them were given to some visiting German professors who handed them to the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

An honourable exception was Professor Richard Threlfall who, in his presidential address to the Royal Society of New South Wales in May 1895, spoke of his "strong conviction of the importance of the work which Mr Hargrave has done towards solving the problem of artificial flight".