One of Queensland's most important historical figures – and a WWI flying ace - will be honoured in Italy next year, after an Australian freight company has agreed to help.
The Toll Group on Monday agreed to freight a boulder from Mon Repos beach - just outside Bundaberg - to Italy to honour Bundaberg-born aviation star Bert Hinkler, who crashed in the Italian Alps in 1933.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has also agreed to write a message to be placed inside a time capsule honouring Hinkler's achievements to be unveiled in Italy in mid-2015.
Australia will next year mark the centenary of WWI ending.
Australia's ambassador to Italy Mike Rann will attend the presentation in Italy in Mr Abbott's place.
Bundaberg Regional Council has agreed to the idea and has welcomed the chance to develop stronger ties with Italy.
Bert Hinkler learned to fly on Mon Repos beach and became the world's leading aviation star of the 1920s and early 1930s.
Tin Pan Alley songs named after him, "Hustling Hinkler Up in the Sky", and newspapers of the day also nicknamed him "Hustling Hinkler"
In 1928 Hinkler became the first person to fly solo from England to Australia and in 1931 he became the first person to fly solo across the Southern Atlantic Ocean.
Hinkler was known as Australia's Lone Eagle and in the pre-Don Bradman, pre-television age his long-distance flights were greeted by tens of thousands of people.
In 1928 he was allowed to sit on the floor of Federal Parliament and the federal seat of Hinkler, near Bundaberg, was named in his honour.
Hinkler also served with Great Britain's RAF as a fighter pilot during World War I in 28 Squadron, seeing service in Belgium, France and Italy.
A boulder from Mon Repos Beach – internationally famous because of its turtle rookery - will be made into a new statue that will be erected on Mount Pratomagno in the Italian Alps, where a popular bushwalking trail is visited by thousands of bushwalkers and tourists each year.
The concept is to establish "The Hinkler Ring", a circular walk linking the crash and site where Hinkler's body was located with the existing facilities.
Bert Hinkler's plane crashed on January 7, 1933.
Toll Group customer services manager Charlotte Thorne said the company was excited by the project.
"We have agreed to collect the boulder from Bundaberg once it has been selected by the Bundaberg Council," Ms Thorne said.
"We will then move it down to Brisbane and we will package it and put it into a container and move it across by ocean freight to Italy," she said.
Toll Group recently opened new businesses in Italy.
"They have agreed to support us to get the boulder to the stonemasons to be engraved," she said.
"And we will be doing this free of charge."
Ms Thorne said they were intrigued when approached by Brisbane man and aviation history enthusiast Kevin Lindeberg, who was instrumental in Hinkler's London home being rebuilt in Bundaberg.
"We think the fact that he is of Australian heritage, he is obviously well known and the fact that Australia is very proud of the people who have fought previously for Australia is important," Ms Thorne said.
"We also think that his solo flights and the things that he has done are quite remarkable."
Bundaberg mayor Cr Mal Forman last night said the council personally met with Mr Lindeberg last month to be briefed on the idea.
"We support the project in principle and we just need now to organise the channels with the state government to take a rock from Mon Repos," Cr Forman said.
"We will get that started now and hopefully get that through as quickly as possible," he said.
Part of Mon Repos beach is a turtle rookery, overseen by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.
Cr Forman said Bundaberg Regional Council had to apply to the state government to move the small boulder from the Mon Repos area.
"Personally I can't see it as being a problem, but we will have to talk to the government and see what they say."
"But we will do that pretty quickly."
Kevin Lindeberg came up with the idea after being invited by the Italian Alpine Club Arezzo Branch to a service on Mt Pratomagno in July 2014 to accurately identify exactly where Bert Hinkler crashed.
Mr Lindeberg was shown to the crash site in 1974 – and the nearby site where Bert Hinkler's body was found three months after the crash - by Italian man Gino Toichhioni who first discovered Hinkler's plane and body in 1933.
Mr Lindeberg placed a marker at the site in 1974, which was located high in a tree in July 2014.
Mr Lindeberg said Toll Group's offer showed the company had a "real social conscience" and "a deep appreciation of Australian history and of our national heroes."
"Essentially, Toll Group's generous offer of transporting the Mon Repos Beach boulder to Italy free-of-charge guarantees the unique character to this monument," Mr Lindeberg.
"It honours Bert, all the achievements and advancement in international transport and at the same time symbolically marries together two great nations in a grand friendly gesture".
Mr Abbott's office emailed Mr Lindeberg in October to convey his disappointment that he could not attend.
"The Prime Minister has asked me to convey his sincere apologies to you on this occasion," the email says.
"I am, however, pleased to advise you that the Prime Minister would be pleased to provide you with a written message to be included in the Time Capsule at the Unveiling Ceremony. The written message will be emailed directly to you by the end of December 2014."
"May we suggest that you may wish to invite Australia's Ambassador to Italy, San Marino, Libya and Albania, His Excellency, the Honourable Mike Rann, to the Ceremony."
Mr Lindeberg has met with an officer in the Queensland Premier's Department who is co-ordinating WWI centenary projects for 2015.
Authorities are waiting for a letter of support from the Queensland Government.
