Remembering when Nambour’s first car rolled into town

The news was hot off the presses: Nambour’s first motor car had been seen in Currie Street.

There was a flutter of excitement in the town, so reported the Nambour Chronicle on June 4, 1910.

George Pitman, better known as a cordial manufacturer, on a recent trip to Melbourne had purchased “one of those small wagons, as the Yankees called them”.

The car arrived by train and, after collecting it from the goods shed at the railway station, Mr Pitman (at the wheel) slowly proceeded into the main street.

From there, the car headed uphill toward the post office.

With stops and starts, it was immediately surrounded by schoochildren.

Amid their cheers, the car would start up again.

It proceeded towards the yard of the cordial factory (on the corner of Currie and Bury streets). A big grey horse, peacefully grazing, took fright and shot “like a bird” over the nearest fence.

The horse would have kept going but was stopped by anxious residents.

Mr Pitman was duly embarrassed and explained that not only was part of the speed gear out of order, but the tyres were deflated and the pump stolen, as well as the horn and other articles.

The short run the car had made from the railway station had therefore been made under great difficulties and was not a fair test of the machine’s capabilities. He looked forward to better times.

This was the first resident car in Nambour.

A visit by one of those new-fangled, horseless carriages had occurred the previous year when one arrived with a travelling picture show.

After a run around the town, it got stuck in the sawdust of the town sawmill where it remained for most of its visit.

No doubt a horse was called to tow it away.

Mr Pitman was the agent for the ‘Bunyip Forest Devil’ which could be used for tree or stump pulling.

At the 1910 Nambour Show, he gave daily demonstrations of the machine as well as his car. His innovative adventures were far from his quiet days as a cordial manufacturer.

Another story comes from Yandina where Julius Steggall owned the town’s first car: a REO 1905.

What alarm it caused when it arrived in Yandina by train in 1917.

Mrs Steggall went to  collect the mail from the post office which was, at that time, at the railway station and the station master surprised her by telling her there was a car for her as well.

Yandina’s first car also had come from Melbourne.

It is said that some early motorists learnt to drive by reading a book of instructions, as well as by tying the car with a long rope to a tree so that it did not get away.

No one knows how Mr Steggall learnt to drive. The car is presently in private ownership and going well.

 Audienne Blyth is a member of the  Nambour Historical Museum, open 1-4pm Wednesdays to Fridays, and 10am-3pm Saturdays.