The 'Branagan' Caravan

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

I have been looking at the following photo of a 1930's caravan from the State Library of Victoria collection for some weeks, trying to work out the van's origins. It doesn't exactly match anything we've seen from any of the pre-War Victorian caravan manufacturers such as Romany Road or Land Cruiser. However, I have come to the conclusion that it seems most like the Land Cruiser vans of the period, based on the two-colour livery (four including the window frames and roof), the lantern roof, the shape of the wheel arch, the rear safety wheels, and in particular the shape and the design of the leadlight windows. For that reason I've decided to post the photo on the Land Cruiser thread until we work out anything different (but see later Editorial Note below):


(Source: State Library of Victoria handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/79519 )

The front boot is an interesting feature that I don't recall seeing on another van of the era.

The background of the photo appears to have been whited out (with whiteout - remember that?), and I wonder if the masking was to enable the photo to be used for an advertisement or a brochure?  The photo was taken by the Commercial Photographic Co, which suggests that it may have been taken professionally for commercial use (not because of the company name, but because the photo was taken by professional photography company).

Don Ricardo

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Editorial note (August 2022): This post and the two that follow were originally posted on the Down History Lane Land Cruiser thread because, although the 'Branagan' caravan has a number of differences from any of the Land Cruiser caravans we know about, it also seems more like the Land Cruisers than any of the other Victorian caravans from the 30's. However, it seems most likely that the caravan was custom built for its owner, Mr J Branagan, but at this point we have not been able to discover any further information about it. Due to the uncertainty about its origins, the posts have been transferred to this separate thread to make it easier to find. Don Ricardo

[griffin]

Don R

You will find the photo was used in the Sunday Times (Perth) 10-1-1937 in an item about Mr. J. Branagan of Melbourne, who used the van while prospecting for gold. A second item with a photo of the outfit in a 3/4 front perspective appeared in the Advocate (Burnie) 25-11-1936. I'm sure you will find the items on Trove and add them here. There is no indication of who built the van, but from it's simple (to me) angular construction I thought it might be home built. It had all the facilities and weighed in at two ton!

I don't know that 'Whiteout' as such was available back then but it was common for photographers, or more likely their assistants, to take out backgrounds with a white type of paint and a brush. They were very deft at it when you look at the detail they were able to leave behind. I have a couple such photos and whatever was used won't come off again and had excellent coverage properties.

George

[Don Ricardo]

G'day Griffin,

Thanks for the pointers regarding Mr Branagan's van. As suggested, I've followed up the references you mentioned.

As it turns out, Mr Branagan's van together with his gold prospecting venture seems to have caused a great deal of interest in the press at the end of 1936, and early 1937. According to Trove, articles about his caravan appeared in no less than 28 different newspapers during that period, ranging from Melbourne to Perth, and Burnie to Nambour.

As you observed, the photo that I originally posted was used for this article in the Perth Sunday Times on 10 January 1937 (page 24), which gave a summary of the van fit-out:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58778080 )

However, the following article from the Riverine Herald on Thursday, 26 November 1936 (page 4) was more typical of the other articles in terms of the detail it provided:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11624662 )

Note that the van was 19 feet long, seven feet wide, and weighed two tons - a sizable van for the times.

The same photo used in the Riverine Herald was also used in the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate on Tuesday, 22 December 1936 (page 5), but gives us the best photo of all of the van and tow car:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13468339 )

Having viewed these photos and the accompanying detail, I am still inclined to think that the van may have been built by Land Cruiser, possibly even on a made-to-order basis.  Given that Mr Branagan was from St Kilda (a Melbourne inner suburb), that almost certainly means that the van was Victorian-built.  In addition, St Kilda is located quite close to Brighton and Gardenvale where Land Cruiser was based, and the van does seem to have a 'Land Cruiser vibe' about it.  However, that is all still supposition at this stage.  It is unfortunate that a lot of the caravanning articles in the press in the 30's were not more forthcoming about who manufactured the vans they featured in articles.

And Griffin - point taken about the whiteout, however I'm pleased that you understood what I was trying to convey. 

Don Ricardo