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”,...

Australian History – the Bits You Didn’t Know About...

I think I’d be pretty right in saying that as far as Australian history that is taught in schools pretty much covers the convicts, the explorers, and the wars. And while each are fascinating in their own right, I have found other bits of Australian history that also deserve to be known. Now I can’t speak for the current generation, but I know they certainly weren’t in the syllabus when I was at school. So get comfy, grab a coffee, and take a little look into Australia’s history, and discover the bits that you didn’t know about. And at the end, see how many of these fascinating facts you actually already knew about. ====================== The 1800s  ====================== 1803 – Australia’s First Newspaper The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser was the first newspaper to be printed in Australia. It ran from 5 March 1803 until 20 October 1842. It was an official publication of the government of New South Wales, and was authorised by Governor King and printed by George Howe. ====================== The 1830s  ====================== 1838 – Pre-paid Postage The Colonial Postmaster-General of New South Wales, James Raymond introduced the world’s first pre-paid postal system, using pre-stamped sheets as envelopes. Who knew pre-paid envelopes started way back then? ====================== The 1850s  ====================== 1856 – Refrigerator Now this was a surprise too, not the fact that it was invented, but the fact it was so early. James Harrison, who was born in Dunbartonshire, Scotland in about 1816, was the son of a fisherman. James was apprenticed to a printer at Glasgow where he managed to attend the Evening College and later the Glasgow Mechanics’ Institution, where he specialised in chemistry. Harrison’s greatest achievement and much of his financial failure stemmed...