The following notice came to the NSW Club, thought others would be interested. FWIW the Holdens will only be on display until near the end of January.
cheers
RET
While the Holdens are outThe National Museum of Australia in Canberra has acquired two of the very first Holdens: The Holden prototype No. 1 that launch ed the Australian Car Manufacturing Industry, and the first Holden to be sold commercially, the 48-215, popularly known as the FX.
The Holdens are on Show NOW.
To accompany the two vintage Holdens on display at the National Museum in January, two visiting academics with a passion for cars will be speaking at the Museum.
Holdin' you in my Holden: Australia's love affair with the automobileFollowing drinks at 2.00pm on Sunday 16 January, Graeme Davison, Professor of History at Monash University and author of the recent award-winning book, Car Wars: How the automobile won our hearts and conquered our cities, will give an illustrated talk about the way Holdens have affected our lives and changed Australian society.
'I'm not exactly an expert on the finer points of motor car design and could easily be floored by questions about gears, suspension or such issues beloved of car enthusiasts. What I can talk about is the advent of the Holden against the background of contemporary discussion about an Australian "people's car", the popular aspirations for automobility in the 1940s and 50s, and the consequences for the shape of Australian cities, patterns of leisure and mobility, politics... in other words, the context rather than the machine.'
Give a girl a spanner: women and cars, 1920s - 1950sQualified as a motor mechanic in the 1970s, working as the motor mechanic for Circus Oz in the 1980s, Dr Georgine Clarsen now lectures in History and Politics at the University of Wollongong. Listen to this remarkable woman tell the stories of other remarkable women and their relationships with cars last century. Using historical images, she will introduce us to a woman who ran a garage in the 1920s, Granny Conway who drove an Austin A.40 in the first Redex trial in 1953, and the Women's Weekly team who drove a Holden in the 1955 Redex trial. Share a cup of tea with Dr Clarsen at 3.00pm on Wednesday 19 January and get ready for a lively journey through a hidden part of history.
For more information please visit our website at
http://www.nma.gov.au or email us at information@nma.gov.au
National Museum of Australia
Acton Peninsula, Canberra ACT 2600 Australia
(PO Box 1901 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia)
Telephone: (02) 6208 5000 Fax: (02) 6208 5099
