Built in 1925 for Australian arctic explorer George Hubert Wilkins as NC1985. Bought by Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm sans engines and instruments on 31 Oct 1927 for the first crossing of the Pacific by air in 1928 - still registered as NC1985. Re-registered G-AUSU on 04 Jul 1928. Re-registered VH-USU in January 1929 but lapsed 3 Jul 1929. Renewed on 16 Apr 1931. Used on various other record-breaking flights or more mundane duties, it was eventually sold to the Australian Government in July 1935. In 1958, it was put on display at the original Brisbane's Eagle Farm airport before being moved to the present site circa 1989.

The Southern Cross was made famous by Charles Kingsford Smith and his team. It later became VH-USU, but it is shown here preserved in Brisbane in this hangar with its original registration NC1985.