Background Information.

Qantas purchased three de Havilland Canada Beavers for delivery in December 1954 and a fourth in February 1955 for use in Papua-New Guinea. These were based at Lae and Port Moresby with three flying as landplanes serving the small strips in the New Guinea highlands and one, VH-EAT, fitted with floats, operated in the river delta area of Papua from its base on Port Moresby. Qantas never operated Beavers on mainland Australia.

Qantas started to withdraw the Beavers from operations, with three being withdrawn from service during 1958 as they were replaced by the larger De Havilland DHC-3 Otters with the last Beaver, VH-EAV, being withdrawn from Papua-New Guinea operations in April 1959.