Jake was no run-of-the-mill black falcon though - he was temperamental, verging on psychologically disturbed due to injuries he received as a fledgling. He had to be taught to fly at an age when most black falcons were wheeling about the sky on their own.

Jake's beginnings were in South Australia, in an isolated spot north of Port Augusta, the town where his owner, an American named Mr Jerry Olsen, had been teaching.

Mr Olsen moved to Canberra to study for a degree in zoology at the ANU. Jake came with him, as he played an important part in investigations by Mr Olsen into bird control at airports.

However, Jake's rather unpredictable temperament got the better of him - and while undergoing training, he took wing.

Mr Olsen went to The Canberra Times to appeal for any sightings of Jake. The fate of the falcon remains unknown.

Also on the front page on this day in 1975: a union ban on all deliveries of petroleum products was placed on the Royal Military College, Duntroon, after a decision by the Minister for Defence, Bill Morrison, not to grant a $7.50-a-week wage rise to members of the Australian Services Canteen Association.

See: trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110644047