A reenactment of that first flight
Pearse himself, in two letters, the first to Dunedin's Evening Star, published on May 10th 1915, the second published in the Christchurch Star on September 15th 1928, didn't believe, by his own rigorous standards, that he had achieved 'proper' flight.
This for him meant a powered take-off followed by "sustained and controlled flight". Pearse's flights, characterised by powered take-offs but followed by erratic descents, failed to meet this criteria.
Regardless of the exact date of Pearse's first foray and the irresolution of the debate over whether it could acceptably be termed flight, his first aircraft was a remarkable design achievement.
Some people still maintain that he flew a powered airplane before the Wright Brothers in 1903.