1930's Caravans.

[Richard]

Hi George.
WOW what a van !
If you look closely at the photo there looks to be a raised section in the roof about a quarter along its length from the front and back. So maybe the front and back quarters slid over the middle half, which would at least halve its length.

Anyway great find George.

[griffin]

As I progress with my Trove searches it would seem that in 1936 the trailer caravan (the caravan as we know it) was at last taking off in Australia. They were still of sufficient novelty, however, that individual caravan outfits were found newsworthy. One such outfit is this one of Mr. J. Branagan of Melbourne who took it with him while prospecting for gold. The first photo is from the Advocate (Burnie) 25-11-1936. while the second is from the Sunday Times (Perth) 10-1-1937 showing it in profile view. With a weight of 2 tons the Ford V8 would have been a good tow car, stopping it would have been an interesting exercise one would imagine! There is no indication as to who may have built the van, but it had all the mod cons, and the builder was not interested in aerodynamics, preferring to keep it angular, maybe for ease of construction.

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8-Sunday Times (perth) 10-1-1937.jpg (47.85 KiB) Viewed 5456 times

George

[Richard]

I came across this vintage caravan photo in Trove, of a caravan that Mr Hope used in 1935 to tour around Tasmania in.

[griffin]

Here's two more vans found in newspapers on Trove from 1937. Although built at different ends of the country they are quite similar in styling, and a style that was still used in the 1950s.

The first is from the Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), Mr. Little's van described as being of metal construction throughout, but it's not clear if that is the cladding too. It is also described as being 'ceiled'. I wonder if that means lined, a strange term I thought.

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The other is from Tasmania, another home built effort it appears, and a cosy way for two couples to spend their honeymoon From The Mercury 14-4-1937.

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George

[Richard]

Another little gem from Trove is this 1937 Reo Caravan.
It looks to be a cable operated folding caravan, and I have not been able to find any more information on this make or maker.

[griffin]

Continued searching on Trove has yielded a couple more caravans of different styles.

From a pictorial page in The Courier-Mail, 23-12-1938 a photo of a van being checked by police for registration. No origin is mentioned, but it is a similar style to other vans of the period with angular windows and no wheel arch.

A much more stylish van appears in this posed photo in the Chronicle (Adelaide) 9-2-1939 generally promoting the joy of caravanning. No rear window or hatch is evident on this van, and it would appear with the awning mounted on the driver's side that the door might be on that side too.

From The Farmer and Settler (NSW) 2-3-1939, a home built caravan, again with the door on the driver's side and in a fairly basic style. I'm always intrigued by the paint patterns used on these early vans. On some factory vans it seems it was almost a trade mark, which made the van readily identifiable.

George

[griffin]

What appears to be a home built van, a pleasant style with lantern roof and open wheel arch, this photo of the Gellie's family van appeared in The Mercury (Hobart) on 16-7-1936, while the interior photo appeared in the same paper on 21-7-1936.

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34-The Mercury (Hobart) 21-7-1936.jpg (95.05 KiB) Viewed 5344 times

George

[griffin]

Another style of folding van, published in The Advertiser (Adelaide) 10-1-1936.

George

[griffin]

Another 30s van from an item in The Daily News (Perth) on the 8-10-1935, a nice style van that seems to supply space for an ample number of people if those in the lower photo all belong to it.

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George

[griffin]

Expanding caravan update.

I've just edited the original post with another photo of that massive expanding van at the bottom of the previous page. I thought it best to keep it together.

George