Aviator who became one of Australia’s pioneering women pilots
Enid Esther Mather (1913 – 1976) was a Queensland-born aviator from an Irish-Australian family who became one of Australia’s best-known women pilots and aviation advocates.
Born in Brisbane in 1913 the youngest of four children of Irish-born William Mandeville Ellis L’Estrange, Esther Mather grew up in a Queensland family of Irish background during the early decades of aviation, when flying was still considered dangerous and unusual — especially for women. Fascinated by aircraft from a young age, she trained as a pilot in the 1930s, entering a field overwhelmingly dominated by men.
She earned both private and commercial pilot qualifications and quickly became known in Queensland aviation circles for her skill, determination and confidence in the cockpit. During the Second World War she joined the Women’s Air Training Corps and later worked in aviation instruction and administration as Australia’s civil aviation industry rapidly expanded.
Mather became one of the country’s leading public faces for women in aviation through air races, long-distance flights and flying instruction. She was heavily involved in the Australian Women Pilots’ Association and spent years encouraging and mentoring younger female aviators at a time when commercial flying careers for women remained rare.
Unlike many early pilots remembered only for isolated stunts or records, Mather helped build aviation as a long-term professional career path for Australian women. Her life reflected Queensland’s transition from frontier-era flying into modern commercial aviation.
She died in 1976, remembered as one of Queensland’s pioneering women aviators.
Irish Queenslander 