Home Away From Home
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday October 21, 2000
One of our earliest caravans was basically a Federation doll's house on wheels.
A unique piece of Australian travel history is on display in a glass-walled garage at the entrance to the Barossa Valley Tourist Park in Nuriootpa.
On August 31, 1931, "Pop" Kaesler, his wife and three of his four kids set out from Nuriootpa on a round-Australia journey in this extraordinary vehicle, thought to be one of Australia's first mobile homes. But not the first. Kaesler had built a less elaborate prototype in 1929 but only got as far as Goolwa, where the local mayor snapped it up.
Kaesler, a coachbuilder, blacksmith and inventor, based his second mobile home on a Dodge one-ton truck that had formerly been used to transport pigs. The body is Wunderlich pressed tin, a product so fashionable that sheets once graced the ceiling of the Sydney Town Hall. He then added leadlight windows and guttering, the drainpipes feeding rainwater to tanks hidden underneath.
The overall effect is of a giant Federation doll's house on wheels, complete with Australian coat of arms and a "Home Sweet Home" motto above the front window. Kaesler referred to it as The Cottage.
Inside is a collapsible double bed plus bunks for the two smallest children. The eldest child slept on the driver's bench seat. A kitchen takes up one corner, complete with oven
fuelled by Shellite. A collapsible toilet fits into another corner. The family ate their meals at a folddown table. An Atwater Kent 6 valve radio provided the evening's entertainment.
In the days before motels and country petrol stations, everything had to be carried or collected en route. Fishing rods and a rifle were essential items. Rabbits were plentiful.
Their marathon two-month journey, to celebrate the Kaeslers' silver wedding anniversary, headed north through Broken Hill and Bourke to Toowoomba and Brisbane, then south along what is now the Pacific Highway, with detours to Canberra and the Snowy Mountains - a total of 6,400 kilometres along mostly dirt tracks, and occasionally no tracks at all.
They were rarely alone. The Cottage attracted crowds wherever it went, even in the outback. Pop Kaesler kept a meticulous diary of his travels, now reprinted as a brochure (a bargain at $2).
Highlights include:
September 5: we drove into Broken Hill and the crowd proved too much for The Cottage, breaking a hinge on the back door.
September 13: There were 48 gates to open and shut before we reached Talwood.
September 30: Drove the cottage to the entrance of Parliament House at 1pm and met the Prime Minister, Mr Scullin ... invited Mr Scullin into The Cottage and introduced him to my family. A very proud moment for us.
Pop also kept account of the running costs: amount of petrol used - 273 gallons; total cost - 32 pounds. He noted that the truck averaged 15 miles to the gallon.
The amazing Pop Kaesler died in 1987, aged 102.
Over the past few years three of his grandchildren have lovingly restored The Cottage as a mobile memorial. It is a work of art. The local council responded by constructing a special see-through garage.
News is that Pop's first mobile home is also being restored, courtesy of the Goolwa Museum.
Pop Kaesler's "Home Sweet Home" mobile home is on display at the entrance to the Barossa Valley Tourist Park,
Nuriootpa, South Australia. Brochures and postcards are available from the kiosk.
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald