To fund its expansion, he listed the company on the Melbourne Stock Exchange on 14 April 1937, offering 250 000 shares at £1 ($2) each. A base, including a flying school, was established in a hangar at Melbourne's Essendon Airport. He found selling the shares hard going. A number of aircraft crashes, notably the loss of Airlines of Australia's Stinson in southern Queensland in 1937, had dampened public enthusiasm for airline investments. Underwriters refused to handle the float so he had to find investors himself. It was a difficult time but he eventually interested enough wealthy individuals in the western district.