A century ago, two tall, adventurous men set out from Perth , Western Australia, in a a tiny 5hp ,second- hand Citroen , named Bubsie, bound for far away Darwin on what developed into the first Australia circumnavigation drive . They were Seventh Day Adventist missionary , Nevill Westwood,22, and a friend , Greg Davies.
Packed into the car with swags ,extra fuel tanks, water and oil, spare tyres was religious literature for sale to stations in WA and the Northern Territory . It was an epic bush bashing trip in which Aborigines actually helped carry Bubsie across the Fitzroy River.
Westwood had blazed the run to Darwin in 1924 on an AJS motorcycle.
In 1908 Murray Aunger and Harry Dutton drove a Talbot between Adelaide and Darwin.
Once Bubsie made Darwin they continued on into Queensland , passing the burnt wreckage of a car abandoned by adventurer Francis Birtles on an earlier trip to the Northern Territory.
Driving through to Mount Isa they experienced formed roads to Brisbane and Sydney. Davies left the car at Albury and went back to Perth so that he could resume his study as a nurse.
At that time the above vehicle , fitted out for a long outback trip, was attracting attention .
Westwood continued on through Melbourne and Adelaide , arriving back in Perth on December 30, l925 and resumed church business.
The Citroen ended up in the National Motor Museum , Birdwood, South Australial, and a restored similar vehicle re-enacted the circumnavigation this year -mostly on the back of a truck .
(Circumnavigation. Australia. Darwin.)
