History of Australia the new technologies of transport and communication. Coastal sailing ships were finally abandoned in favour of steam, and improvements in rail and motor transport heralded dramatic changes in work and leisure. In 1918 there were 50,000 cars and lorries in the whole of Australia. By 1929 there were 500,000. The stage coach company Cobb and Co, established in 1853, finally closed in 1924. In 1920, the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (to become the Australian airline Qantas) was established. The Reverend John Flynn, founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world's first air ambulance in 1928. Daredevil pilot, Sir
Duchess, Queensland Mairindi. In the 1911 census, the town had a population of 397. By 1915 the population boomed to over 1000. By the 1920s, the town's population dropped. At its peak and for a while afterwards, Duchess was home to four pubs, a school, a post office, a train station, and four automobile garages. Duchess currently has a population of 2 which consists of the owners of the now standalone "Duchess Pub". Duchess, Queensland Duchess is a town and a locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. The town is in the east of the locality. The Cloncurry Duchess Road