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Post by Don Ricardo on Sept 24, 2008 21:01:10 GMT 10
Hill-n-dale CaravansManufactured by H Church & Son 7 Trafford Street, East Brunswick, Vic
There is a bit of a puzzle about this caravan manufacturer. We have information about both 'Hill-n-dale', manufactured by H Church & Son in East Brunswick, and also 'Hilandale', built by George's Caravans in Thomastown (also Victoria) - click hereThe info about Hill-n-dale - see below - dates from 1956, while all the info about Hilandale dates from 1960 onwards. The question is did George's Caravans take over Hill-n-dale from the Churches and jazz up the name for the 60's? Or were they two different brands from two different manufacturers who just happened to choose similar brand names? On the Hilandale thread Peter Turner (a forum guest) told us: ;)Hilandale was made in Mahoney's Rd Thomastown and the prinicpal was George Baccash and his family. Their signature was the side flash Some of the stickers had the name "Hilandale" and then a small subsection 'by George" I believe the company went bust in early 70's and resurfaced as Anandale in Cambelfield My Dad was their Bank Manager I remember George built a huge 3 axle job for the Melbourne caravan show in about 66. This really got everyone talking at the time. If Peter is still around maybe he can tell us if he knows anything about a link (or lack of it) between Hill-n-dale and Hilandale. 1956 Hill-n-dale advertisement:(Source: Keith Winser, Australian Caravan & Touring Manual for 1956, pp 112 & 81)
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Post by Don Ricardo on Oct 16, 2021 20:43:41 GMT 10
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Post by kaybee on Oct 17, 2021 15:00:05 GMT 10
Hi Richard, the only info that we can add is what we were told when we purchased it. The lady that it was built for had a family member, maybe a brother or an uncle, that worked for H Church and Son who were furniture manufacturers, and it was built as a one off of design for her. That might explain why the interior finish , although unique in design, did not look like the same quality as the one in the add.
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Post by Don Ricardo on Oct 17, 2021 17:03:44 GMT 10
Hi Kaybee,
That's interesting to read the background to your Hill-n-dale.
When I was posting the photos of your van, I noticed that the publicity in the 1956 Winser stated: "Hill-n-Dale, only introduced to the Australian market recently by furniture manufacturers, Church & Son of Melbourne, now making three models, 12 ft, 13 ft and 15 ft models...". Given that we believe that the 1956 Winser would have been published in late 1955, that suggests that Church & Son possibly only started building their Hill-n-Dale caravans in 1955.
The intriguing thing is that there are no more references to Hill-n-dale caravans in Winser after the 1956 edition. That doesn't necessarily mean anything - maybe Church & Son didn't feel it was worthwhile continuing to publicise their vans in Winser's publications? But it may also suggest that they didn't produce caravans for very long, maybe only a year or less? That could explain why yours is the only one we've seen because not many were produced.
I trust that the person who bought your van is looking after it. It certainly appears to be a rare beast.
Don Ricardo
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