I’ve been privileged to be invited to help scan some negatives from the collection of the Robinson family of Singleton, former owners of the Singleton Argus newspaper. The collection is typical of country newspaper photography, with lots of local plays, church events, sport and business promotions, with a few local specialities such as the Singleton Army Base. Among the collection was this fascinating little group of images of vintage trucks (actually they called them “motor lorries” in those days), probably dating from around the 1920s, showing some of the transport operators in the region at that time. The photos were obviously copied from prints that were already more than a few decades old, but the copy quality is pretty good.
These solid-tyred old beasts would have been boneshakers to ride in, especially on the Hunter’s rural roads of a century ago. It’s amazing to see how resourceful the carriers were in getting as much freight as possible on the trucks for each trip. In the gallery that follows you can see bricks, milk cans, poultry baskets, hay bales, pumpkins and more. In those days, I understand, buyers got a chassis and then had the coachwork built by local firms. Hence the variety. Not so much variety in the marques, however, with most (or all?) being Republics.
