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Post by Geoff & Jude on May 13, 2008 8:12:16 GMT 10
HIGHWAY CARAVANS [South Australia]Manufactured by Grace Bros, Swigg Street, Birkenhead, South Australia
one of my students brought this in for me last night, thought you all might be interested in the article. it was in the "big rigs" supplement of fridays paper.  you can see more photos of the palace at vintagecaravans.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=photo&thread=1383&page=1geoff 'n jude
Photos of the Highway Palace taken at Renmark, South Australia, by 313royal and posted here on 14 May 2007:     
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Post by urkel1965 on May 13, 2008 17:29:42 GMT 10
When the restoration was finished a few years ago, it was brought back to Pinnaroo for the annual show and put on display. I had a look through it at the time, and it was absolutely amazing.
I believe, in his day, Popp Parr supplied bakery items from Tailem Bend to Ouyen. He made a few bob doing it, as I also believe the purchase and fitout of the Highway Palace was the equivalent cost of 2 houses at the time.
Cheers
Steve
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Post by cobber on Jun 8, 2009 2:56:28 GMT 10
Highway Caravans.... The Highway Palace (see also the thread on fifth wheelers.) This is page one of a four page article in a 2006 edition of “Caravan World” magazine. The article states that “The Highway Palace” was built in the mid '40s by “Grace Brothers” who we have discovered were located at Swigg St Birkenhead not far from Adelaide. They also made a limited range of caravans consisting of two standard models known as the “Highway Castle” (with four berths) and the “Highway Cabin”. Cobber |
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Post by Don Ricardo on Apr 14, 2011 23:09:12 GMT 10
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jul 3, 2011 22:01:18 GMT 10
While Grace Bros - who built the Highway Palace shown in the posts above - are referred to in various places as 'caravan builders', there seems to be very little information available about their activities. There are no articles in the press to be found about their vans, apart from the one about the Parr's Highway Palace, and it seems that Grace Bros were not big on promotion. This may suggest that they depended on recommendations for new customers. The first reference to Grace Bros in the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper in April 1946 when the firm tendered out some construction work at their place of business. The following advertisements and an article from The Advertiser provide some glimpses into the nature of their caravan building business: 13 November 1948, p 10: (Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43791239 ) 8 December 1950, p 24: (Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45684328 ) 13 December 1950, p 22: (Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45668134 ) 9 March 1951, p 16: (Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45703634)Note that the advertisements refer to two models - the Highway Cottage, which had two doors, and the 16ft Highway Home. There is no reference in the adverts to the Highway Castle or Highway Cabin Cobber wrote about in the post that begins this thread. Notice also the emphasis on the vans being suitable for station owners, contractors and workmen living out on the job. It appears that Grace Bros may have been held in some regard for their caravan building activities. The person sending the following enquiry to The Advertiser on 27 May 1952 (p 8) was referred to Grace Bros for further advice:  (Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47381299 ) The following advertisement lodged with The Advertiser on 11 August 1953 (p 18), tells us that one of the Directors of the company was A R Grace, presumably one of the Grace brothers:  (Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48261012 ) The last advertisement with any connection to the Grace Bros (a situations vacant advertisement for a labourer) appeared in The Advertiser on 5 October 1954. Don Ricardo |
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