We take the car for granted. The majority of Australian families have one, if not two or three cars; for many teenagers, learning to drive a car is almost a right of passage; and step into any street in town and you’re likely to be run over by one! We hardly even notice the cars around us nowadays but just over one hundred years ago the appearance of a “motor” in the vicinity was newsworthy.

A car pulls out from the kerb in front of the Wagga Post Office in Fitzmaurice Street and heads off down towards the Johnston Street intersection, circa 1920s. (Image from the Pym Collection, CSURA RW2735/48)

A Steam-Powered Car

One of the very first appearances of a car in Wagga was on 4 May 1900.

Built by the Thomson Motor Company Syndicate in Melbourne, it had recently been exhibited at the Bathurst Show and was travelling home to Victora…