Community
5 December, 2025
Bubsie visits Camperdown for centenary trip
CAMPERDOWN received a special visit last Thursday, with a replica of the first car to travel around Australia on display to mark 100 years since the fateful trip.
n 1925, Nevill Westwood and Greg Davis drove a 1923 Citoren 5CV – affectionately nicknamed Bubsie – around Australia, starting and ending in Perth in Western Australia.
The original Bubsie – which is in the National Museum in Canberra – was 3.25 metres long, 1.4 metres wide, 1.65 metres tall and weighed only 580 kilograms.
Kevin Amos, who is the driver of the replica, said this year’s trip around Australia provided an opportunity to share the story of courage, commitment and determination.
“One hundred years ago, two young fellows – one 20 and one 22 – set out from Perth with a plan to drive from Perth to Darwin, if possible,” he said.
“The purpose of the journey wasn’t to travel – it was to visit the remote outback stations and communities.
“They were Christian missionaries selling a book to give them an income, and then they would buy petrol from farmers.
“They were finding out how these people living in the outback were doing as far as their physical and mental health.
“Living in outback Western Australia and Northern Territory was pretty rugged 100 years ago, and this is what they were doing to make connections with these outback communities.”
The journey took Mr Westwood and Mr Davis to a variety of places, including Darwin, Sydney, Broome, Derby, Halls Creek, Emungalan, Toowoomba, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide.
“The plan was to get to Darwin, put the car on a boat and get it shipped back to Perth,” Mr Amos said.
“By the time they got to Catherine, they had ruined seven sets of tyres and tubes.
“They couldn’t buy car tyres, so they left the car at Catherine, went up to Darwin by train, bought motorbike tyres and decided to keep driving.
“They reckoned they could drive around the rest of Australia quicker than they could drive home.”
For Mr Amos, it isn’t his first trip to Camperdown – having lived in Ballarat previously.
He said he was happy to return to familiar territory.
“Bubsie didn’t actually drive through Camperdown – it was more up through Bendigo and St Arnaud,” Mr Amos said.
“What we are trying to do is show the car and share the story to as many people as possible, so we did a community event in Camperdown – we started the morning in Colac, and then we’ll head towards Hamilton.
“We are talking to about 1000 people a week, and they’re absolutely loving looking at this car because it’s so basic and elementary as far as motoring is concerned.
“Older folks relate to this kind of vehicle because they either learned to drive in something like this or their parents had something like this.
“Car enthusiasts love hearing the story and looking at the car.”
Among the crew of five accompanying the Bubsie replica is David Sedgman, who also has a connection to Camperdown.
“I’m a descendent of a pastor who was here 77 years ago – his name was Pastor Athol Sedgman,” he said.
“We lived in 43 Scott Street, and it’s the house I was taken home to from the hospital.
“It has some historical benefit for me as well as this story, which is fantastic.”
The Bubsie replica had already completed a number of stops, including Newcastle, Perth and Darwin.
Mr Amos said the replica is now heading towards Adelaide, with plans to return to Perth by December 30 – the same day Nevill Westwood arrived back in Perth 100 years ago.
“We’ve had people who knew we were coming and were already waiting,” he said.
“It’s not unusual – more often than not, we have around 10-15 people standing around and waiting because they’ve heard the story and want to see the car.
“We give out a free copy of the story of the original trip as well as other resources.
“We’ve made lots of friend sharing this story.”