Our Touring Past

The following two photos are of Mr Priest of Adelaide who, in 1936 drove his 1933 Ford and home built caravan from Adelaide to Melbourne and back.

The first photo shows the caravan lowered for travel with Mr Priest standing in front. The second photo shows the caravan set up, even with a set of rear steps.
The photo below is of a caravan built around 1935 in New Zealand and is very similar to Mr Priests caravan , with similar caravans being built in England as well.

Another very early 1930's folding caravan/camper.

Hi Richard

Attached are two pages on caravanning from "The Motor in Australia and Flying", a magazine published from around 1908 until the late thirties, sort of an early 'Modern Motor'. This article was published October 1, 1936 and indicates we were slow in taking up the idea of caravanning in Aus. Couple of nice American outfits shown.

George

This item is from The Australian Motorist, Feb. 1, 1935.
Could this be Australia's oldest aluminium van??

It has some interesting features, very low slung and from the detail photo it appears to have lead-light style windows, the ventilation louvres are located above the window and door and the fold out table on the side is visible. The stabiliser mounting brackets can be seen at each end too. An unusual style draw-bar, not likely to bark your shins on it although it might do the knee caps some serious damage! It's not a style of van I'd like for my own but it would be an interesting museum piece if it were still sitting around a shed somewhere.

George

I've had occasion of late to spend an unhealthy amount of time on the NLA Trove website researching Vauxhall material. To beat the boredom I've added several other searches to create a 'system' for each month I search, killing a couple of birds with each stone as it were. 'Caravan' of course has been one of the searches and through the late 1920s not a lot was happening that I've found so far but I thought this item might be of interest. The photo quality of course is not good and totally dependent on the 'on line' copy but better than nothing.

A home made caravan by someone in Perth and is a typical box style van of the time with a door at the rear it appears.
George

Maybe Perth was where it was all happening caravan wise in the early days. This is another Perth built van from The West Australian, 14-11-1931. No other information was provided. And then a month later these adverts appeared for Hendry and Son who were offering their services to build caravans as well as offering them for sale. The search continues.

George

And, after some more 'Troving' the other day I ran across these two advertisements for Hendry and Son, the first in January 1934 with mention of a 22 foot 'Western Star' caravan, and a brochure available, that would be nice to find today. I wonder if there is any connection to the later Star caravans from W.A.? Probably not quite enough evidence yet to list 'Western Star' as another make from W.A.? Then in May 1934 another advertisement offering a rental car and caravan, seems like Mr Hendry was going all out for business. George

As a sign that caravans were increasing in popularity, The Sydney Morning Herald published a small notice on 6 January, 1938, announcing that a new section titled 'Caravans and Trailers' would follow the 'Motor Cars, Lorries' section. For the convenience of readers and traders alike. Caravans were coming of age it appears.

George

I ran across an article on the Jubilee Motor Show in The Argus (Melb) on 13-6-1935 and found this photograph of a caravan. Apparently a number of caravans were displayed at the show but I couldn't find any details or descriptions in the text. In the same paper of 18-6-1935 WPM (Williamson Page Murphy) advertised their Bungalow Trailers on display at stand 31 of the show. Anyone any idea of what brand it might be? The door appears to be deeply recessed which might be a clue.

George

My ongoing Trove searches is showing that 1935 seems to be the year it started to happen for caravanning in Australia as there is quite a lot more advertising and general articles in relation to caravans. On the 31 December, 1935, the Melbourne paper, The Argus, carried two articles under the motoring section which was written by 'Accelerator'.
The first related specifically to caravanning with an interior photo of mum cooking in a van, and the article referred to a recent caravan display at the Melbourne Agricultural Show. The second item related more to camping and supply of water, but in the midst of it was this photo of a caravan. There was nothing more than the line of text provided with it, but the van is a mighty fine specimen for 1935, especially if it was Australian. The photo does not provide good detail, but sufficient to see there are FOUR roof hatches and two storage hatches in the side, and the van would have to be nudging 18 foot in length.
Does anyone have any idea of the origin??

George

Continuing my Trove searches I found this unbelievable example of a caravan published in The Queenslander, 30-7-1936. The page featured photographs of the latest modes of road, rail, air and sea transport, and it's hard to imagine such a caravan could ever take to the road. The text tends to indicate it was expandable, and presumably would have been shorter in it's road going format, especially on a single axle. One could only hope so at least, imagine trying to negotiate corners or back it as it appears in the photo, and the curtains!! Only in America it would seem.
George

Update 18-12-2013.
By chance I found the following article in an old magazine in my 'library' while having a browse for something else. The van is shown expanded and in travel mode, with what appears to be a quite small European style sedan. The interior shot has models of the van on the table! George