1910 Brush Around Australia

At 8.00am on 27 April 2001 a team of Veteran car enthusiasts started from the Liverpool City Council, 1 Hoxton Park Road Liverpool on a unique 80 day, 14,300 Km expedition around Australia in a 91 years young 1910 BRUSH Veteran Automobile, visiting cities, suburbs, country towns and the outback to promote the celebration of the CENTENARY OF OUR FEDERATION. The expedition was endorsed as a National Event of the Centenary of Australia's Federation by the Federal Government's National Council for the Centenary of Federation.

The BRUSH team's objective was to promote the celebration of the Centenary of Federation and provide Australians in cities, suburbs, country towns and the outback, who saw the BRUSH on its way "AROUND AUSTRALIA", with a visual reminder of our motoring history in the early days of our Federation. 1901 was the birth of our federation and the first automobile was 5 years old, automobiles played a major role in the development of our Nation from the early days of Federation. In 2001 Australia, through the care of the many members of the Veteran Car Club's of Australia, has a unique collection of Veteran Cars.

THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER The BRUSH team collected donations for each of the State and Territory member bodies of the Australian Cancer Society on their way "AROUND AUSTRALIA". Each weekday the BRUSH team visited a local primary school and a retirement/nursing home, talking on the history of our Federation and of the automobile showing them the 1910 BRUSH. Complementing its place in the history of Australian motoring the 1910 BRUSH has many unique features, chassis and axles made of timber, only one cylinder, no windscreen and no hood, four coil springs in extension, and its very difficult to steal for you must crank the motor anti-clockwise. Yes the motor runs in the opposite direction to all other cars, etc. etc.

Bob and John are seventh generation Aussies and descendants of First Fleeters. Bob also has a link with Australia's Federation as his Grandfather was the incorrigible WILLIAM G SPENCE who was a member of our FIRST FEDERAL PARLIAMENT in 1901.

The BRUSH departed Sydney on 27 April 2001 and visited Canberra 28/4, Melbourne 2-3/5, Adelaide 6&7/5, Perth 21-22/5, Darwin 11-13/6 Brisbane 4-6/7 and returned to Sydney on 12 July 2001. Yes on 12 July we drove into Sydney after 80 days and 14,790kms on the road and exhibiting the 1910 Brush "Around Australia".

My most sincere thanks to all my friends, new and old, without whose help we would not have successfully completed our "Brush Around Australia" expedition and been able to help the fight against Cancer, and especially to the Brush Team, my wife Alison, Keith Edwards, John Simmons, Jim Weir, Judy and David Hawkins, Colleen and Don Liddle and Lynn Brown.

AND To the two guys who gave me the confidence to press on in Perth, and not abort the expedition when two of the 3 motors were in bits, and who delivered a rebuilt motor to me in Darwin which drove the Brush home to Sydney in fine style and still remains strong! THANK YOU Geoff Simmons & Dave Mawer.

I find it hard to encapsulate the multitude of fascinating experiences the team had on this expedition into a few words. As a RETIRED accountant I figured out that I got an average of about 5 hours sleep each day so that means I spent 1520 hours awake or 91,200 minutes absorbing experiences of people and our beautiful/stark/amazing/harsh country AND worrying about the Brush.

The Brush emits 27 different sounds as it putters along the road, this can change with the slope of the road, the direction of the wind, speed or lack thereof, the angle of the drivers head and (as the Brush is a lady by name Jean Frances) she changes her mood from time to time. Each change causes the driver acute nervous spasms, what's wrong? Is that a new noise? Or a variation in an old one? am I imagining it? etc. etc. etc. Over 80 days of big dinners and a few wines I should have put on heaps of weight BUT worrying is a great weight reducer and I only gained 2 kilos. Enough of me, the Brush is in the shed getting a well earned rest, engine is strong, two wheels need some tightening and heaps of TLC.

So did we achieve our objectives, YES I believe we did. Hundreds of our older citizens enjoyed seeing the old Brush at the many aged care/nursing/retirement homes we visited around Australia, the tales they told us and the sparkle in their eyes told the story. Thousands of young school children at the many primary schools we visited were amazed to see the Brush, to learn how old it was , to see that it worked, to hear of its history, "was it around when there were dinosaurs" asked one 6 year old. They lined up to get a Centenary of Federation sticker and of course to blow the horn and ring the carriage bell!

Hundreds of thousands of Aussies saw the Brush on the road and at the many exhibitions we held around Australia and showed their enjoyment with waves, shouts, honks of horns, I reckon at least 2,000 waves a day on the road and as many photos, on the road and at exhibitions and the questions, is it only one cylinder? what do you do when it rains? fortunately we had only 4 wet days and yes we have no windscreen or hood? Are the axles and chassis really timber? Do you really drive it?

A friend lent me the third motor and we treated it accordingly. The Brush with its repaired motor drove all the way from Darwin to Sydney. Importantly thousands of people gave us a gold coin or better to help the fight against Cancer, sadly most had a tale to tell of the impact of Cancer on their family.

We certainly took every opportunity to promote the importance of the Centenary and through an Aussie Trivia Quiz at our evening meetings with local car clubs and other community groups we taught the attendees the name of the SECOND Prime Minister of Australia AND who wrote Advance Australia Fair.

We paid our own costs, and every cent we collected went to the State Cancer Funds. No sponsorship monies from Governments or the business community, of course we asked BUT - No Givers!