De Havilland Australia was established in Melbourne in March 1927, and was the first overseas subsidiary of the de Havilland Aircraft Company. Moving to Sydney in 1930, the company acted as an agency, with assembly, repair and spares facilities for the company's popular sporting and airliner types. Aircraft design and full manufacture by de Havilland Australia was to wait until WWII, when production of the DH-82 Tiger Moth primary trainer commenced at Bankstown, NSW.

By the 1930s, leading Australian industrialists were beginning to arouse Government interest in the local production of aircraft, particularly for military use. By the mid-1930s, it had become clear that the British industry could not supply enough modern aircraft for Australia's needs, and with the backing of BHP, Broken Hill Associated Smelters, GMH, ICI and the Orient Steam Navigation Company, the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) was formed at Fishermens Bend in October 1936. In January 1937, after an international survey mission, the Australian Government ordered 40 North American NA-16 aircraft, later to be named Wirraway, from CAC. The first of these aircraft flew five months before the outbreak of WWII, and CAC went on to deliver 755 Wirraway aircraft to the RAAF.