Bethanga Caravans (Geelong West, Vic)

[Don Ricardo]

BETHANGA CARAVANS

Manufactured by D (or Cliff?) Chappell
145 West Melbourne Road, Geelong West, Victoria

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On 31 March 2008, mpower wrote:

"Had my home made 1946 van at the federation of car clubs picnic at Mortlake in Victoria's western district last weekend. A Colin Chappell asked me if any of our members owned a Bethanga van. Cliff Chappell, a relation of his, made these caravans in Geelong Victoria in the 1940s. Apparently 13 were made and the production number was listed on the side of the van under the name Bethanga. Is anyone able to shed light on Bethanga vans?"

On 1 April 2008, mpower added the following information:

"Colin gave me his phone number in case I managed to find out any information. He did say the vans had no front window but two at the back. I did question Bethanga and he said it was the name of a bridge near Albury - didn't ask the connection though."

Further information provided by mpower on 4 April 2008:

"Colin Chappell was very pleased to receive my call re the Bethanga caravans. He doesn't have any photographs but will see if any of his relations have photos. He did however provide some extra information as follows:-

. Cliff was a builder in Geelong
. the vans were hired out
. the rims were 16" with the very early ones being spoked
. the vans weighed 22cwt (about one ton)
. the interiors were very dark - dark wood grain
. the name Bethanga was used as the shape of the vans resembled the Bethanga bridge near Albury - apparently there is a family connection to Yarrawonga

The above information will be useful if one of our members happens to acquire a Bethanga."

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Dave,

There is indeed a connection between the town of Bethanga and Bethanga caravans. Apparently the caravans were named Bethanga because the shape of the vans resembled the Bethanga Bridge - the builder of the caravans had a family connection to Yarrawonga. Following is a picture of the Bethanga Bridge, which was built between 1927 and 1930:


(Source: www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/07_subnav_01_3.cfm?itemid=5056556&imageid=47261020)

If the Bethanga caravan looked like this, then Cliff could claim to be the inventor of the road train!! ;D ;D ;D Seriously though, the bridge was only built a few years before Cliff was building his vans, so they may have been seen as pretty edgy design at the time.

The van builder was a Cliff Chappell. Were there any Chappells still around when you were living in the area?

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

OlFarts posted the following information regarding a Bethanga van on 23 January 2011, together with a number of detailed pics:

On a trip back to SA to bring back another V V (The Wayfarer) my partner and i decided to make a holiday out of the return trip for 8 days.

So we ventured back along the Great Ocean Road,something both of us hadn't done for many years.

Of course the Valiant wagon and the Wayfarer received a lot of attention and requests for people to take photos got a little embarrassing after a while as the van or the wagon were no where near finished.

We got talking to a couple along the way who said they had a "Bethanga Caravan".As i used to live at Bethanga and i remembered the Bethanga site on V V my ears pricked up.

The gentleman that owned the Bethanga has had the old girl since the 1980s,the front and right hand side are very weather worn but like most oldies,its pretty decent on the inside.Unfortunately it will need a lot of work to bring her back to her former glory.

The van is being used for stowage at the moment,hence all the property inside of it.But it seemed like a very well crafted van in deed.

She is about 13 foot long,no windows at the front,one small window at the rear and two windows front and rear on the left and right hand sides.And it had a "Lantern roof."And of course an ice box to keep the ales cold.

The big long chrome handle is the pump for the sink.It had a lot of cupboards and hanging space for such a small van.

The rims/tyres looked like Ford V8 Pilot rims and were 16 inch.

The tow hitch to me looked different,i had a play with it and it seemed to work correctly.











Note that the number '9' shown in one of the above photos may indicate that the van was the ninth built out of 13 (or was it 22?). DR

[Roybeth]

1948 ad for Bethanga

[Don Ricardo]

Another photo of the Bethanga Bridge after which the Bethanga caravans were named, from the Lost Country Victoria Facebook page: