Thank you everyone! The Walhalla Centenary Car Rally was a huge success! The weather was kind and the cars were wonderful! Click here to see our Photo Gallery.
Thank you to our supporters and sponsors...
MAJOR SPONSORS
Baw Baw Shire • Walhalla Heritage &
Development League • Walhalla’s Star Hotel • Rawson Village • Walhalla & Mountain
Rivers Tourism Association • Shannon’s Car Insurance
SPONSORS
Tyreplus Moe • O’Connells Tyres • Saviges Road Service Station • John Buckton Auto Spares, Moe • Pedders Suspension, Moe • MDAS Moe Diesel & Automotive Services • Walhalla Museum Pty Ltd • Mountain Top Experience • Walhalla Lodge Hotel • Hercules Mining • GreyHorse Café • Walhalla General Store • Simply Walhalla Lolly Shop • Walhalla Board of Management • Walhalla Goldfields Railway • Phoenix Paintball, Rawson • Windsor House B&B • Mt Baw Baw Alpine Resort • Gippsland Trades & Labour Council • Erica & District CFA • Walhalla CFA
In June 1908, Dr Hagenauer and his party of friends drove the 50 miles from Sale to Walhalla in just over 5 hours. The three cars featured in the photographs were the first to visit the mountain gold town. Until 1908, Walhalla had been only accessible by pack horse or bullock wagon, the railway arrived 2 years later in 1910. Therefore the efforts of Dr Hagenauer hold a special place in history. The motor car was the first mechanised form of transport to Walhalla, unlike most other towns where the railways beat the motor car by decades. Their drive to Walhalla was an amazing feat when you consider the state of the roads in this area back in 1908.
Today the journey between Sale and Walhalla takes little more than an hour, 100 years on, in June 2008, the Walhalla Centenary Car Rally will recreate this red-letter day for Walhalla. The Walhalla Centenary Car Rally 2008 which is being held on June 28 & 29 2008. Please click here to enter a vehicle.
But what were those first cars into Walhalla? Following a worldwide hunt via the internet with people from all other the globe making a contribution, we have concluded that 2 of the 3 vehicles are Crossleys. The larger of the two Crossleys is a 40hp model, the smaller a 22hp. The 3rd vehicle (with canopy up) remains unidentified. The oldest surviving Crossley is located in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester UK. It is a 1909 model...so a year younger than the cars that drove to Walhalla. You can clearly see that the radiator is the same as is the front suspension design. As most cars were imported into Australia [pre WW1] as just a chassis, engine, transmission and radiator, with the coachwork being made in Australia, the giveaway is the radiator shape. [see below].
Please click here for a larger photograph of the first cars to Walhalla.