Eve Lamb
You could have been forgiven for thinking you’d been whisked back to a time when having a set of wheels meant something like a Ford Model T Tourer or a Willys Overland Whippet.
Fifty pre-1930s vintage beauties were front and centre, as their doting owners showed them off during a special visit that transformed the school yard at Castlemaine’s St Mary’s Primary School last Thursday afternoon.
The cars and their owners were from vintage car clubs across Victoria and interstate and were all participating in the Federation of Veteran Vintage and Classic Vehicle Club’s biennial Golden Oldie tour supported by the RACV. It had previously missed a year due to COVID.
The week-long rally had set out from Wunghnu, north of Shepparton, travelling through many towns scudding Echuca, Seymour and Kyneton, to finish up in Bendigo on Sunday.
With a top speed of about 40 miles an hour (64 km/h) possible for many, the trip entailed plenty of overnight stops along the way and Castlemaine was one of these with dinner in the town hall provided by the Castlemaine Secondary College Chaplaincy as a fundraiser.
Principal at St Mary’s Primary, Ben Shields, played a key role in arranging for their special visit to his school as part of a hands-on means to teaching the students about Australia’s early motoring history and also about culture and community.
“We were looking to have a school learning experience around culture and what it means to belong to a car club,” said Mr Shields who is a bit of a vintage car enthusiast himself.
“I’ve got a ’29 Model A Roadster and a ’23 Model T Speedster,” said the principal who’s also a member of the Vintage and Classic Car Club of Ballarat.
While the visiting travellers enjoyed showing off their collectible cars for the St Mary’s students, the school’s Parents and Friends Association ran a raffle and helped put on an afternoon tea for their visitors as well.
One of the tour organisers, local member of the Castlemaine Historic Vehicle Club, Anne Davis, said the visit represented a tidy cash injection for the area with the motorists overnighting in Castlemaine, and on Friday paying visits to the Newstead Men’s Shed and a private collection of horse-drawn carriages at Strangways as well.
“These are all 1920s to 1930 cars and some of the kids here have never seen a manual car,” Ms Davis noted.
“All of these cars are manuals and a lot of them have mechanical brakes instead of hydraulics.
“We’ve had a couple of breakdowns and a couple run out of fuel along the way … but it’s been great.”
St Mary’s student Chan summed up the kids’ response.
“They’re very cool,” Chan said.
