Research officer, Bega Valley Genealogy Society, Pambula

FOR many years I have collected information on the early motor vehicles that came to the Bega Valley.

The first vehicle ever seen in the Bega Valley had two well-known commercial travellers as passengers.  

They arrived in Eden on September 13, 1901, and the following day the vehicle was parked outside the Club Hotel in Pambula where it was inspected by a large number of residents.  

The car was reported to be a rather clumsy looking vehicle, but was said to be very comfortable to ride in.  

An electrician from the firm that supplied the car was in charge of the vehicle.  

Unfortunately when driving along the sandy Merimbula road a piston rod broke through a fault in the casting, which disabled the vehicle.  

As a consequence the commercial travellers had to proceed by horse driven coach and the car was dispatched to Sydney by steamer.

The next car to be sighted on our roads was in 1902 when Mr CED Meares, general manager of the Coastal Farmers Co-operative, who regularly made business trips to our area, arrived in an 8-horsepower “De Dion”, single cylinder vehicle that had no glass windshield and was lit by kerosene lamps.  

It frequently had to be backed up hills and during wet weather the chauffeur walked alongside, manipulating the gears at the steep pinches.  

By 1904 the company vehicle was updated to a two-cylinder “Star”.

The first car owned by a resident living in the Bega Valley was a 6hp vehicle that was offloaded at the Tathra Wharf on October 17, 1904.  

The owner was Walter Weston Richardson who was manager of the Pacific Mines at Wolumla.  

It took him two hours to drive the vehicle to Wolumla.

The second person to own a car in the Bega Valley was John Jauncey, whose motor vehicle arrived from Sydney on November 28, 1904.  

He arranged for a chauffeur to accompany the vehicle, but it must not have been to his liking as within three weeks he had returned this car to Sydney as it was his intention to purchase a more suitable one.

The first person to own a motorbike, a “Sarolea”, was Father Kenny, the Roman Catholic Priest stationed at Pambula. 

This was in March 1905. 

By November 1909 he had upgraded to a Star motor vehicle.  

It was reported that he was an expert at driving and managing a car, and that he could travel along at the rate of 60 miles an hour.

The various doctors within the Bega Valley soon saw the advantages of owning a car.  

Dr Ramsay Sharp from Candelo was the first to do so in November 1908 and was soon followed by Dr W Creswell Howell who, by January 1909, was driving a 16hp Star. 

In March 1909, Ben Gowing was the next person to return from Sydney driving a motor car. 

By this time Kameruka Estate had purchased two vehicles and one of them was used to convey the men to and from their work. 

The local teamsters weren’t a fan of these vehicles as their horses would often take fright causing damage to their carriages.

By October 1909 both Balmain & Heyde and Petersen & Gjerstrup had opened up motor garages in  Cooma and would regularly transport paying passengers to Bega.  

The following year both businesses opened up branches in Bega.  

Balmain & Heyde purchased the Lyceum Hall and converted this into a motor garage while Petersen & Gjerstrup had a new garage built for them by Underhill and Thatcher.  

George Harrison from Pipeclay Creek, near Pambula, purchased a 17hp eight-passenger motor car in December 1909 and had a regular passenger run between Eden and Nowra.

By February 1910, Mr CT Stiles of Kanoona was driving a “Minerva” motor car and it would take him 20 minutes to drive into Bega.

The first lady from the Bega Valley to invest in a motor vehicle was Mrs Rogers of Kingswood and this was in July 1910.  

Mr JE Jackson purchased a vehicle at this same time and used it in connection with his cordial works as well as a private conveyance.

By 1912 motor cars were being registered in NSW at the rate of just on 50 per week.  

There were 5225 cars registered in the state and 3600 motorcycles.

There were 5634 car drivers registered and 3600 motorcycle riders.

By the end of 1914 it was not unusual to see female drivers in the district.  

Miss Dorothy Jackson became an expert driver and would often chauffeur her grandmother, Mrs Roger, while  Miss Dora Young, of Bega, would act as  chauffeur for her aunt, Mrs Eliza Wilson, the owner of the Metropolitan Hotel, Bega.

I believe that Frank Rodwell’s wheel (click here for story) came off a cart used many years ago at Alcock’s Slaughter Yards at Bemboka and the story was handed down that it had supposedly come off the first motor vehicle in the Bega Valley. 

As to whether it belonged to one of the motor vehicles mentioned above, we will never know.