Marion Carmel McCall (née le Breton) (born 1943) is an
Australian pilot
:''This title is related to nautical issues, and is not related to aviation in Australia''
Australian Pilot is a series of editions of Sailing Directions to navigators in Australian coastal waters.
Most editions were published by the British Ad ...
, notable for winning the international Dawn-to-Dusk Flying Competition, the first Australian woman to do so, and the first Australian to win the competition three times.
Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music is the music school at the University of Melbourne and part of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne City Centre on the S ...
at Melbourne University. Following graduation, she taught singing for two years with the Victorian Education Department Board. McCall was poised to take up a position as an announcer with ABC Radio in Melbourne but through her association with Wangaratta Cathedral, McCall met, and married in 1969, the bishop’s son, David McCall. They had five children together.
McCall has published several books of poetry and short stories, including ''Nullabor West'', a compilation of poems inspired by her life in Western Australia, where she lived between 2000 and 2010 while her husband served as Bishop of the
Anglican Diocese of Bunbury
The Anglican Diocese of Bunbury is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia which was founded in 1904 and covers the south of the State of Western Australia. Together with Perth and North West Australia, it is one of the three diocese of t ...
.
On her husband’s retirement in 2010 they returned to Adelaide, where they had lived prior to their posting to Bunbury and before that the
Anglican Diocese of Willochra
The Diocese of Willochra is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia. It is situated in the northern and western parts of the state of South Australia, Australia. As part of the Province of South Australia it covers the Eyre Peninsula, ...
. She remains an active member of the Anglican Church, currently serving as the Diocesan President of the
Mothers' Union
The Mothers' Union is an international Christian charity that seeks to support families worldwide. In addition to mothers, its membership includes parents, men, widows, singles and grandparents. Its main aim is to support monogamous marriage and f ...
of the
Anglican Diocese of Adelaide
The Anglican Diocese of Adelaide is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia. It is centred in the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia and extends along the eastern shore of the Gulf St Vincent from the town of Eudunda in the ...
, and as President of Australian Church Women from 2012 to 2014.
Aviation
At 48, McCall decided to learn to fly in order to help her husband reduce the amount of time he spent travelling across a diocese that takes in over 90 percent of the state. The cost of a pilot’s license was paid by the ‘Wings over Willochra’ campaign, in which each parishioner bought a $10 “share” in McCall. After seven months of training, at the end of 1992, she was issued her licence.
In 2004, to celebrate the Bunbury Diocese turning 100, McCall entered the Dawn to Dusk Challenge, an international perpetual flying contest established in 1964 by HRH
Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...
. Flying her single engine
Cessna 172
The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company. She went on to win the Duke of Edinburgh Cup again in 2007 and 2012/2013, the Half Dawn to Dusk once, and the Tiger Medal a second time.
McCall is a member of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association, which was founded by pioneering Australian aviator
Nancy Bird Walton
Nancy Bird Walton, (16 October 1915 – 13 January 2009) was a pioneering Australian aviator, known as "The Angel of the Outback", and the founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.
In the 1930s, she became a fully ...
. McCall donated a scholarship in her name to the Australian Women's Pilots Association to financially assist Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander women to train as pilots.
Honours
In 2011 McCall was awarded an OAM for service to aviation and the Australian Women Pilots’ Association, and the Nancy Bird Trophy for the most noteworthy contribution to aviation by a woman in Australasia. In 2019 she was included in the South Australian Women's Honour Roll.
In the media
McCall and her husband featured in a 1997 episode of the ABC Television program ''
Australian Story
''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television (Australian TV network), ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs, AB ...
'', titled 'A Wing and a Prayer'.
McCall's piloting adventures form the subject of a chapter in Kathy Mexted’s 2020 book, ''Australian Women Pilots: Amazing true stories of women in the air''.