Drays and Coaches
Motor Cars, Trucks
By 1905 motor cars became a topic of conversation and there was speculation that motors might run on all western roads instead of coaches.
The first cars began to appear in the district from about 1910. In 1911, A. Ferguson made a trip to Aramac in his ‘splendid new Napier’ with the help of a chauffeur, Barney McCabe. The 40 mile journey was made in three hours. In the same year a garage to hold seven cars was built behind the Shakspeare Hotel and W. Walter advertised a car for hire in the Champion. In 1913 J. Allitt opened the town’s first motor garage on the north side of town. It had a concrete floor, wide doors, and ‘cupboards to hold the many little spare parts needed fro repairing motors’.
Motor Cycles
Footpaths were top dressed with gravel for the town’s may cyclists and an exciting change came with the first motor cycles. W. D. Gaukrodger, who replaced A. R. Brown as manager at Saltern Creek, brought one to a field day in 1905. He led a procession of perspiring cyclists through the streets and made a helpful sum for the hospital by giving joy rides in his trailer.
