Feel free to access these resources related to Australian Automotive History
List, details and contacts for current archives in public collections
List of suggested authors and books
Our conference proceedings
Other topical AHA member’s/ affiliate’s/ linked organisation’s papers of interest:
Duncan & Fraser- The Gift of a Motor Ambulance David Neely
Historic Vehicles Website Pt. 1
The Adventurous Mr and Mrs Charles J Gidden Jenny Fawbert
Book Review - Recreational Vehicles - Harriet Edquist
The Harbeck Collection of Australian Motoring in Print - Part 2 Jörn Harbeck
Sunbeam Ambulances David Neely
The Harbeck Collection Two rare books Part 1 Jörn Harbeck
Mrs Bon and Daimler - The Daimler Motor Ambulance, The Philanthropist and The Cockatoo David Neely
The People’s Car and John T Buckingham Norm Darwin
Pan European Auto Conference Turin 2022
Rob Roy Hill Climb 1993 Program Part 1 and Part 2
Tribute to Reg Hunt David Neely
An Open and Closed Case - The Saint-Didier Convertible Body David Neely
An Anoraks Guide to early Q Plates Doug Young
Book Review Queen of the Whale Cay Bob King
Marion Bell - Round Australia in 1925 Jenny Fawbert
Women in the Early Australian Automitive Industry - a survey Judith Glover & Harriet Edquist
Ballarat Early Motoring - Part 1 Daryl Meek
Ballarat Early Motoring - Part 2 Daryl Meek
Australian Women’s Automobile Club Norm Darwin
Horace Washington Harrison - Pioneer Australian Motorist Norm Darwin
A History of Steenbhoms Ltd Bodybuilders Gary Luke
Database of Ditigised Australian Magazines - In Work
2021 Conference Paper - Challenges Facing Private Collectors
A G M Michell Story Stephen Phillip
Historic Racing History Bob King
Holden Historic Vehicle Fleet list and Museum Allocation
Jackson, Jones & Collins - A Sydney firm of Motor Body builders. David Neely
Sydney’s first gathering of motorists - When was it? Was the first gathering really in 1901? Jenny Fawbert
Industry at Kilkenny. Research using the S.A. SALIS land title data base as a resource. Norm Darwin
GM on Designing and Planning Automotive Dealerships, 1948. Michael Bogle
The RHSV recently published this article on the heritage battle for the GMH Fishermans Bend site. The RHSV also publishes six newsletters per year, a reviewed journal and books of historical interest that are worth a look.
Please visit our YouTube channel for full filmed version of each of the paper presented at our 2016 conference. Below is an example of the quality of work, with Geoff Wardle from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena USA, presenting how a local transport future may look like in his paper 'Driverless Cars Reinvent Australian Car Industry'
Listen to our Secretary Tony Lupton chatting with Jon Faine on The Conversation Hour about 'Who really designed the VW Beetle?', as well as our 2017 conference.
Here are our affiliate partners, contributors and linked associations
The Society of Automotive Historians was founded in Hershey Pennsylvania in 1969. We are an international organization with over 900 members scattered across the globe. The Society is an eclectic but serious community of historians that includes academic scholars, automotive journalists and publishers, museum and library professionals, educational and cultural organizations, car collectors and restorers, and enthusiasts. Here is a link to their site and vast automotive network.
The Council of Heritage Motor Clubs NSW Inc. is the State group representing heritage vehicle clubs throughout all regions of N.S.W. Members of these clubs own, restore and preserve cars, trucks, motorbikes, buses and tractors that are over 30 years old. Some vehicles are over 100 years old, some are rare, some are unique and many are everyday vehicles from our nation's transport past. Their owners share one common purpose, to keep alive the sights and sounds of the vehicles that were an integral part of the automotive history of Australia.
The RMIT Design Archives actively collects material relating to Melbourne design from the twentieth century onwards, and is an integral part of a vibrant research centre in the heart of the city. Both digital and material, the collections represent historical and contemporary practices which tell the story of Melbourne as a design city, and provide the resources and support for research into Melbourne’s designed environment, design professions and practices. The RMIT Design Archives houses the collections of automotive designers Phillip Zmood, Ken Foletta and Chris Emmerson (available for online viewing) as well as drawings for the Repco racing engines.
Since 1965 millions of people have enjoyed discovering their motoring heritage and the social history of motoring at the National Motor Museum, Birdwood, South Australia. As an international centre for the collection, research, preservation, education and display of Australian road transport history, the National Motor Museum is much more than a collection of vehicles. It tracks a social history of the past present and future.
The Society of Automotive Historians in Britain (SAHB) is an entirely independent organisation that was originally established in 1980 as a Chapter of the American-based Society of Automotive Historians that had been founded in 1969. The principal purpose of the SAHB is to ‘encourage research, preservation, recording, compilation, and publication of historic facts concerning the development of the automobile and related items, from its inception to the present day, throughout the world’.
The Automotive Historical Society e.V. (AHG) is an association of professionals who conduct research in the field of automotive history and publish. Historians, journalists, technicians, teachers, chroniclers, archivists, museum operators, curators and private collectors are represented within the AHG. Established in 1997, the association aims to maintain the history of the automobile, through the exchange of ideas between members, the research in the field of automotive history and the publication of research.
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV) was formed in 1909 and is a community organisation committed to collecting, researching and sharing an understanding of the history of Victoria. With the support of a large number of volunteers, the RHSV provides a full program of activities such as lectures, seminars, excursions and exhibitions for the benefit of members and the general public. Regular events each year include Melbourne Day, History Week, the New Historians Evening, the Royal Society joint Lecture and the Victorian Community History Awards. We organise a biannual conference and have a key note speaker delivering the Augustus Woskel lecture.