G'day Gordon, Cobber, Al and Humpty,
Some interesting info we're collecting here about 'caravan shows' and 'caravans on show', which appear to be two different things... ;D ;D ;D
A couple of items on this topic, two of which I've only unearthed literally in the last couple of days, as it happens:
Item #1:Winser's 1955 Manual includes the following photo:
(Source: K Winser,
Australian Caravans and Touring, Book 7, 1955, p 18)
The caption says the show occurred "this year". I'm presuming that Winser probably followed the convention still followed by magazine publishers today (and car manufacturers), meaning that the 1955 Manual was actually issued some time in late 1954 - hence "this year" was 1954. If so, this confirms the date for the first Melbourne caravan show provided in the Powerhouse blurb (which I suspect came from Winser in the first place). You'd certainly think that Winser would be correct in naming this event as the first Melbourne caravan show (note I haven't said 'Australian show') because of his significant involvement in promoting the caravan industry.
However, just because the first caravan show in Melbourne was held in 1954 doesn't mean that it was the first show in all of Australia (despite what Powerhouse says).
In any case, as I've alluded to above, a 'caravan show' is different to 'caravans being on show', and caravans were obviously on display at a range of different events at least seventeen years earlier, for example the 1937 'Coronation' Motor Show in Melbourne.
Item #2:Another example of 'caravans being on show' was provided by Cobber on the DHL Home Comfort thread, with this photo of Home Comfort vans being on show at the 1938 Adelaide Royal Show:
I'm not sure where all this places the first NRMA camping and caravan show held in 1938, except that I wonder if the fact that it was a
camping and caravan show means that it wasn't regarded as a true caravan show by the people at the time? Seems a bit unlikely, but words and concepts do change their meaning over time...
Cobber referred to a comment in the Melbourne
Argus about a separate caravan show being organised in Melbourne in Spring 1938. I guess if that fell through for some reason, there would have been no further thought of a show until at least the late 40's or maybe even early 50's because of the war and its aftermath, as Cobber said.
Item #3:At the moment I'm reading my way through
Galloping Bungalows, a book about the development of the US caravan industry which has been very kindly lent to me by Reddo (yes, Reddo I do remember you've only
lent it to me). I was surprised to read that caravans were only displayed at the New York motor show
for the first time in November 1936, just seven months before they were first displayed at the Melbourne motor show.
Why I was surprised is that there were many articles in the
Argus and the RACV magazine
The Radiator (and presumably other places) in the early to mid-30's, chiding Australians for being slow to jump on the caravan wagon
unlike our American and British counterparts who had been on the wagon (as opposed to "on the wagon"
:
for years. And yet caravans were only displayed at the NY motor show in 1936.
[By the way, I'll copy the material (at least the useful bits
)from this thread to the DHL Caravan Shows thread so that it's all in the one place.]
Don Ricardo