It is the 82-year-old love story of Bundaberg's much-idolised aviator Bert Hinkler and his death after a plane crash on Mt Patomagno in the Italian Apennine mountains in 1933.

This week a 1.4 tonne basalt boulder from Mon Repos beach near Bundaberg – where Bert Hinkler learned to fly – arrived in Italy, where it will be shaped into a memorial to Hinkler and his career.

Hustling Bert Hinkler was Australia's pre-eminent aviation star - with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith - of the 1920 and 1930s.

However Hinkler died on January 7, 1933, when his plane crashed in the Italian Apennine mountains near Tuscany as he attempted to break the solo flight record from England to Australia.

Hinkler, from North Bundaberg, managed to crawl from the plane on Mt Pratomagno in the Italian Apennine mountains and died around 80 metres from the wreckage.

The boulder from Mon Repos Beach left Queensland from Brisbane on January 7, 2015.

For almost 40 years Australian and Italian aviation enthusiasts have wanted better recognition of Hinkler's final days in 1933.

Over the past 18 months a group of enthusiasts, co-ordinated in Australia by Brisbane man Kevin Lindeberg, has put together a campaign to find a way of honouring Bert Hinkler.

The idea to place a boulder from Mon Repos beach where Bert Hinkler learned to fly gliders and take it to Italy was the brainchild of Bundaberg's Lex Rowland.

Mr Rowland is one of three trustees of Bundaberg's Hinkler Hall of Aviation explained his idea.

"If you've ever walked on Mon Repos Beach on a lovely moonlit night, looking out at the waves rolling from the Pacific and crashing in those big black basalt boulders down there, they are very earthy and they are very much part of the planet," Mr Rowland said.

"And to have a boulder taken from that wonderfully-pristine environment down there and taken to a mountain top in Italy, is pretty special."

"Bert was such an important man and he came from such humble background," he said.

"North Bundaberg in the early 1900s, it was just a little village over there."

"For such a wonderful person to rise from such a background, well he had a special talent."

Bert Hinkler was an RAF's 28 Squadron Leader during World War 1 and flew campaigns over Italy.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will provide a tribute to Hinkler that will be placed in a time capsule, while the Queensland Government's Anzac Centenary committee has agreed to provide a plaque for the boulder/memorial.

Fairfax Media has followed the story since early 2014.

The sculptured boulder from Mon Repos Beach will be placed in the Italian Apennine mountains and become part of bushwalking circuit linking the plane crash site and Hinkler's death site.

This will be known as The Hinkler Ring.

The plan has led to offers of assistance from the RAF's 28 Squadron – Hinkler was a Squadron Leader during World War I and led sorties over Italy – and the Royal Queensland Aero Club, which has donated an old propeller to be part of the Italian memorial.

The boulder has been shipped free of charge by Toll Group to Italy. It arrived last week, where it has gone to Italian stonemason, Roberto Vignali.

Mr Vignali will shape the boulder and help to install the plaques.

A time capsule including a tile and some nails from Hinkler's home – now in Bundaberg's Botanical Gardens – plus the tribute from Prime Minister Tony Abbott will be buried nearby.

Mr Lindeberg was delighted the Mon Repos boulder and the Royal Aero Club's propeller had arrived.

"They have both arrived on Italian soil as the next step in this important national and international project," Mr Lindeberg said.

"Toll Group did a wonderful job, and I want to publicly thank them again for their generous no-cost gesture," he said.

Mr Lindeberg said the Queensland Government, Bundaberg's Regional Council and Italian aero authorities should also be thanked for helping to put project together.

"It brings both ends of the world together in a highly significant and lasting manner," Mr Lindeberg said.

"As well as paying personal honour to Hinkler's active service in WWI with RAF 28 Squadron in northern Italy in 1918, the project honours all other WWI service men and women who were prepared to put their lives on the line in the great cause of democracy and freedom."

The Da Giocondo chalet in the Italian Apennine mountains close to where Bert Hinkler's plane crashed will host tourist visitors' books, which have been arranged by the Federal Government.

The new Hinkler Memorial is set to be unveiled on August 2 by Australia's Ambassador to Italy, Mike Rann.

Keith Pitt, the Member for Hinkler – named to honour Bert Hinkler – is being invited to the unveiling.

Retired naval Captain Andrew Craig who chairs the Queensland Government committee honouring the centenary of Anzac Day, said the Queensland Government had decided to honour Hinkler with a plaque.

'I think this is a terrific project," Captain Craig said.

"Bert Hinkler had a very gallant record in World War I and then of course he was one of the great pioneers in the business of aviation and he happened to be a Queenslander from Bundaberg," he said.

"And then if you look at Bert's lifetime and his achievements after the Great War, that simply cemented his place as one of the great pioneering aviators."