To the side of Cafe Connie at the HARS Museum in Shellharbour, NSW, is a lift and a set of stairs. Take either and you will find yourself on a spacious mezzanine floor, the focal point of which is an open area containing display cases. On the walls are large photographs of the luminaries of Australian aviation. Also conspicuous is an unusual metal low-wing four-seater aeroplane with struts: the only Victa R2 ever built. Hanging from the ceiling is a series of connected box-kites, under which hangs a mannequin wearing 19th century clothing. You are in the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame (AAHOF).
What is a Hall of Fame?
Halls of fame are places (typically museums) with exhibits honouring famous people and events related to a particular sport or field of endeavour. Sometimes, halls of fame are really just lists; with no physical location, but still serving as a means to nominate illustrious people in a specific field. When a person (or thing or group) gets nominated and added to the hall, it is said they have been elected. Halls of fame are thought of as an American invention, but the first such thing was the 1853 Ruhmeshalle in Munich, honouring great Germans in history. The idea took off in the US with the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1901, and like the Ruhmeshalle, contained busts. There are now hundreds and hundreds of halls, walks and walls of fame in the United States, and the idea spread to many other countries, including Australia. There are perhaps 35
