South Australia’s First Motor Car and Early Registrations...

What was the first car in South Australia? Or why not make that Australia? If your answer was anything to do with Henry Ford, you’d actually be wrong. In fact the honour of the first car in Australia actually is an Australian built one and goes to a gent from Mannum, which is a small country town along the River Murray … Below is a portion of an article from Adelaide’s ‘The Mail’ newspaper, dated 10 July 1926. You can read the full article on the Trove website. AUSTRALIA’S FIRST MOTOR CAR Mannum Manufacturer’s Invention VEHICLE THAT WAS ON THE ROADS 30 YEARS AGO Well known in South Australia as a manufacturer of farm implements, Mr. David Shearer, of Mannum, River Murray,can claim to be Australia’s first inventor of a motor car. In the early nineties he designed and built a power-propelled vehicle, which, a few years later, astonished all Adelaide as it chugged its way through the streets at 15 miles an hour. Special permission from the Mayor had to be obtained before the car could be driven through the streets. Designed 10 years before Henry Ford’s first models, little is known today of the South Australian’s invention, but farmers, who lived a quarter of a century ago in and around Mannum remember how Mr. Shearer worked day and night on his “automobile,” and they relate today to the younger generation, how Mannum might have been the Detroit of Australia. England’s first car, which made its appearance two years after Mr. Shearer’s, had a speed of 10 to 12 miles an hour, while the South Australian car actually travelled at 15 miles an hour. Anyway this post isn’t going into the deep history of “Australia’s first motor car”,...

Mannum in Flood … Again!...

The small town of Mannum, in South Australia in sits on right on the banks of the River Murray, so it’s no wonder that it gets flooded now and then. In sorting through family heirlooms, I came across a collection of old photos of Mannum in flood. Unfortunately they are undated, but going by the style of photograph, together with reading up about the floods that hit Mannum, I would suggest that these were from the 1890, 1896, or 1917 flood. If anyone can shed some more light on the specific date on them, I’d be forever grateful. My family has a connection to Mannum through the Randell’s, with William Richard Randell who without any experience decided to make a paddlesteamer. In February 1853, at Noa No Landing, just north of Mannum, William Richard Randell launched the “Mary Ann”, the first paddlesteamer on the River Murray. He later moved his operations to the present site of Mannum, which soon became a centre for shipbuilding and river transport. William Richard Randell is a half-brother to my great grandfather John Beavis “J.B.” Randell. the Lady Daly paddlesteamer on the...

Dr Allan Elliott Randell (1871-1941)...

Now and then I have a photograph that I just want to share, and this is one of those times. I found this photo of Doctor Allan Elliott Randell in my dad’s collection – which has to be one of the coolest photos don’t you agree? He’s here in his De Dion car (note the little crank handle on the front) … anyway as he’s not a direct line ancestor I knew very little about him, so I headed to Trove, and found his death details and obituary. Allan Elliott Randell is a son of Francis Henry Randell and Sarah Ann Nickels. So he is the son of my great grandpa’s (John Beavis ‘JB’ Randell) half brother … got that? I saw you screw your face up trying to work that one out. Anyway, there is a connection of sorts to my Randell family from Gumeracha, and to the Randell’s from Mannum too....