Southern Cross caravans

[Don Ricardo]

SOUTHERN CROSS CARAVANS

Manufacturer and location unknown

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On 1 August 2008, Franklin1 quoted from the Sydney Powerhouse Museum website in a post about John Jennison's role in the caravan industry:

"According to Keith Winser, noted Australian author on cars and caravanning during the 1960s, caravan production in Australia had its origins in 1928 when R.J. Rankin, a young Sydney businessman keen on the outdoors, built his own caravan...

"Another pioneer was John Jennison, an engineer, who in 1932 built the Jennison Road Cruiser...Other pioneers of the industry included Propert, Ambassador, Southern Cross and Castle. Between 1950 and 1953 there were at least 60 registered caravan manufacturers in Australia including Viscount and Millard in NSW, Franklin and Coronet in Victoria, Chesney in Queensland and Tru-Line in Western Australia..." [emphasis added].

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Franklin1 followed up his first post with the following observation on 2 August 2008:

I'm somewhat cautious about taking the information from the Museum as 'gospel'. I generally use their information as 'indication only', since there are sometimes some inconsistencies with what we've found elsewhere...

The other interesting thing about the information above is that we are still to see a Southern Cross caravan, to represent the pioneers (we know about the Properts, Ambassadors, and Castles). [emphasis added]

cheers,
Al.

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Southern Cross caravans have continued to be a mystery, and we are still to (knowingly) see a Southern Cross van in the wood, so to speak. However, earlier today I came across two advertisements in the Melbourne Age newspaper of 5 December 1960 referring to Southern Cross caravans:


(Source: The Age, Saturday, 5 December 1960, page 64)

The implication seems to be that both Dandenong Caravans and Carapark acted as agents for Southern Cross caravans, which suggests that they were not built in Victoria.

The Dandenong Caravans advertisement seems to suggest that Southern Cross produced two model ranges, an aluminium clad range called the Ambassador and a rescote clad (bondwood) range called the Pacific. However, the Carapark advertisment seems to make a distinction between the aluminium Ambassador caravans and the rescote clad Southern Cross caravans.

How all this hangs together, I've got no idea at this point. But I wonder if the reference to Ambassador caravans is to the South Australian built aluminium Ambassadors here?

The other confusing aspect of all this is that the advertisements referring to Southern Cross (above) are from 1960, surely too late in the history of Australian caravans to be referred to as a pioneer by the Sydney Powerhouse Museum? So maybe the Museum was referring to a different Southern Cross? Having said that some of the brands referred to on the Museum website and quoted by Franklin1 above were actually relative latecomers and not pioneers of the caravan industry as such, thus justifying Franklin1's warning about treating the info as gospel.

Whatever the case, hopefully this post is a step towards hunting down the history of the elusive Southern Cross caravans.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

We have not come across much information about Southern Cross caravans over the years. What we do know is summarised in the post above, which includes a 1960 Carapark advertisement offering Southern Cross caravans for sale.

Following is another Carapark advert referring to brand new Southern Cross caravans for sale. The advert was printed in the Melbourne Age on Saturday, 2 December 1961 (page 59):


(Source: www.newspapers.com )

Perhaps Carapark was acting as an agent for Southern Cross in Melbourne as suggested higher up this thread, but this advert raises another interesting possibility... Was 'Southern Cross' the brand name Carapark used for its vans in Victoria? While that may sound a bit unlikely, we know that Carapark used the brand name 'Leisureliner' for its caravans built in Queensland. And it seems to have adopted the 'Paramount' name for toaster style caravans built in South Australia. Another avenue to follow, or maybe just a rabbit hole!!

Don Ricardo

[skye]

Evening all, I’m just beginning my vintage restoration of an unknown bondwood van and after removing the running gear (axle, leaf springs and wheels) I’ve found the wheel hubs to be stamped Southern Cross. Would this be the make of the van itself or just the makers of the hubs? Thankyou in advance, Skye

[Roehm3108]

Hi Skye
Interesting post you have put up. A bit hard to say if your discovery points to a Southern Cross caravan or not. Generally any names stamped on a part indicates the part manufacturer rather than the end item built. Perhaps you could put up a picture of the van and hub as well. We may be able to help identify the van, if nothing else.

[skye]

Here is a picture of van and wheel hub. Any help to identify would be appreciated. Thank you 

Attachments:

[Roehm3108]

Good to see the pics. I can't identify the van myself, but hopefully our resident hughdeany may recognise it. Have you looked at the vans listed in the "Down History Lane" section? Here's a link to the index vintagecaravans.proboards.com/thread/7164/caravan-topic-index-start-search
It may be necessary to go through each brand name if nobody recognises it. Have you got any additional information on the van, like where it was registered, where you got it from, wall and roof construction etc? It looks like this van goes back to the 1950's going by the window construction. But the hinges look like a later addition (perhaps because the originals were rusted?).

[hughdeany]

Hi Skye,
Your van looks like a home made copy of a Pixie caravan,but with much less curves and a larger front top roll,the wooden frame windows also date it from the fifties.
Cheers
hughdeany

[Roehm3108]

I rarely argue with hughdeany and am not prepared to on this one!!!

[skye]

Thank you everyone for your replies, I haven’t been able to find any markings on the draw bar or elsewhere. I’ve been over every inch of the chassis and draw bar removing loose rust and have just today treated it with Fertan but again there are no discernible markings. I was surprised to find that a lot of the chassis is timber frame as is the whole build itself including walls, roof and cladding. All the screws are brass and the windows are timber and glass with the exception of the 2 porthole windows which are framed in aluminium. The wheels are HT Holden with little 13” aluminium wheel covers. I purchased the van about 8 yrs ago unregistered from a man near Maryborough QLD and it’s been in my garage untouched until I finally evicted all the junk that I’d been storing in it and made a start on restoring it a week or 2 ago. I ripped the ply floor up and was surprised and relieved to not find any unexpected issues 🤞 the frame however has some water damage on both the front and rear end but all in all it’s in good nick. It’s certainly ugly at the moment in the federation green someone paint rolled all over it 😂 so I look forward to one day getting to the stage where I can remedy that too.

[Roehm3108]

If the van was home-built, it could be that the chassis was also home-built. I'm not up to date with the new self-build trailer regulations these days, but if there is timber framing in your chassis it may be worthwhile checking with the Transport Dept in regard to registering the van. Perhaps someone on here can help too, but best to check with the source.

Do your porthole windows actually have framing and glass in them? They do look like an afterthought a little bit, but probably not so much one the window is in.

[Mustang]

My experience in Qld with old van registration is:
With no prior paperwork, or previous ownership papers, Qld Transport will require an engineer's certificate, a weighbridge ticket & a roadworthy.
As Roehm suggests I would look at the legalities before you invest your hard earned & labour into the resto.

Parts of the chassis being timber could be an issue with an engineer as they can't testify to the strength of wood.
Keep us tuned.
Mustang