"Mon Repos" was built on the Thornhill Estate, Southampton, England by H.W. Small of Bitterne for Bert & Nance Hinkler in 1925. Bert Hinkler applied for the usual housing grants available at the time and the Southampton City Council approved the construction on a substantial parcel of land, part of the old Thornhill Estate, quite close to Burlesdon Road, a main Southampton thoroughfare. The site was secluded with large oak trees growing within the vicinity. It was, however, very close to Bert Hinkler’s workplace, the A.V.Roe Experimental Works at Hamble, where Bert was chief Test Pilot from 1921 - 1926. Nance was a keen gardener and soon the area became a haven for Bert Hinkler’s many friends, including Roy & Mary Chadwick, the great A.V.Roe designer, Roland Bound an aeronautical engineer and Basil Henderson also an aeronautical engineer. Jim Laver, Bert’s long time friend and former work mate, was also a frequent visitor to "Mon Repos". Bert Hinkler planned most of his long distance solo flights from"Mon Repos", including the 1927 London - Riga flight and his 1928 solo flight from England to Australia. Planning was also undertaken on his epic journey, the great South Atlantic crossing of 1931. The secluded fields surrounding "Mon Repos" were also the location for certain tests carried out on the "Ibis", Bert Hinkler's dream machine, and it was a common sight to see Bert in his Riley motor car towing the "Ibis" from "Mon Repos" to Hamble for some weekend work and testing. Following Bert’s tragic death on Mt. Pratomagno in Italy on January 7, 1933, "Mon Repos" was indeed a sad place, but Nance continued to live in the residence until 1952 when it became council property. In June 1974 a historic marker and plaque were unveiled at the house on Thornhill by the Mayor of Southampton Cr. L.F. Goater. This marker now proudly stands alongside the relocated "Mon Repos", the Hinkler House Memorial Museum in Bundaberg. The Egans, the last of many families to occupy "Mon Repos", vacated in December 1982 and it stood awaiting the wrecker’s hammer through the winter months of that year and the early part of 1983. Click here to read more about the re-location of Hinkler House.
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