Skip Moody, Daydream Island And The MV “Jane”

In the Proserpine Guardian, June 30 1972, it was reported that a visiting Sydney journalist had observed that “far too many details of the bygone days have faded in the mists of memories of the oldtimers … and many of these (oldtimers) have faded into the mists of mortality.”

In an effort to preserve the narratives of people from the past who helped shape the future, today the story of yet another of the Whitsundays’ colourful characters is shared – Phillip “Skip” Moody, who held the lease on Daydream Island from 1941 to 1948.
 
A pioneer of Australian aviation.

Phillip “Skip” Moody was one of 250 Australians who trained to fly and became a test pilot in England for the Royal Flying Corps. After serving in World War One, he returned to Australia where, in 1924, he joined Qantas as a pilot along with Reg Ansett and flew Western Queensland services out of Charleville.

Skip was one of the first Australians to be engaged in commercial aviation. He quickly acquired a reputation as a daredevil through the stunts he performed. In 1927, he flew under the Victoria Bridge in Brisbane. Civil aviation authorities were not amused.  
 
In 1928, Skip and friend, Howard Jolly, planned to fly across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand but the government banned the flight. Instead, Skip took his plane to New Guinea to go commercial flying between Lae and Wau, but that came to a sudden halt when he developed engine failure which forced him to ditch his plane near Lae.
 
Previously, in 1926, he had drawn a sheep property south of Charleville in a ballot and after his New Guinea adventures he returned to the property. This turned out to be a struggle, so he rejoined Qantas until 1930 when he returned to his land for ten years. At this point, wool prices had dived so he sold out and went to Rockhampton where he ran an aerial taxi service.

A pioneer of tourism

When World War Two broke out, the military service took over the aerodrome so Skip decided to try island life and purchased the lease of West Molle Island. Due to the war and subsequent lack of tourists, he closed the resort, leaving it in the hands of a caretaker, Sam White, before joining the RAAF in Townsville. When the war was almost over his wife, Helen, returned to the island and was joined by Skip on his discharge from the RAAF. They reopened the resort in April 1946. At this time, Skip unsuccessfully tried to have the island, West Molle, renamed as Daydream.

The Moody’s had purchased the 15 metre ex-navy work boat MV “Jane”, reputed to have been General Douglas MacArthur’s boat. Rupe Wilson, the owner of a baker’s shop in Proserpine, skippered the boat and Jack Stewart, who was the underground manager of the then flourishing Dittmer Mine, used to take tourists out in “Jane”. Because Jack had no ticket to drive the boat, Skip was forced to accompany the trips. (“Jane” served as a cruise boat until it was wrecked at Stonehaven in Cyclone Ada.)
 
In early 1948, the Moody’s sold to Barrier Reef Islands Pty Ltd, an Ansett subsidiary, and moved to Brisbane. The island had various openings and closures before June 1963 when Orm Foxlee together with local cane farmer, Daly Thomas, and policeman, Doug Virtue, were given a special lease for Daydream Island.
 
The Moody’s did return in 1950 to start a tourist resort on Hamilton Island but were unsuccessful. Skip and Helen’s era on what is now called Daydream Island, was an exciting time.

Phillip “Skip” Moody died in Sydney in 1978, aged 85 years.
 
Story and photo courtesy Proserpine Historical Museum. Information also sourced from Orme Foxlee and ‘The Whitsunday Islands’ by Ray Blackwood. Photo sourced from Murray Views.

Skip Moody
MV Jane Murray Views

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