1934 International bus used at Waterfall, NSW
Object No. B1654
This 1934 International bus comprises an American truck chassis built by the International Harvester Co. and a local Sydney-built body, by Syd Wood of Bankstown. The bus operated in the southern Sydney suburb of Waterfall from 1934 until 1967 and is believed to have been the oldest bus still in operation in New South Wales at the time. In an era before the popular ownership of cars, the bus provided transport for visitors and patients to the Waterfall Sanatorium, picnickers to Woronora Dam and swimmers to Garie Beach in the Royal National Park. It was owned and operated by Sarah Stork, who as an enterprising teenager established her own transport service with a horse and sulky for workers building the Waterfall Sanatorium in about 1909. Sarah was an expert horsewoman and single handedly built up, firstly a horse-drawn coach service for the route between Waterfall Station and the Sanatorium, and then from the 1920s a motor bus, taxi and haulage business. Even as late as 1965 this little International bus, still operated by Stork Bus Services, could be seen at Waterfall Station standing between runs to the Sanatorium. Sarah referred to the bus as "Biddy" but to locals it was affectionately known as "Old Biddy". Sarah Stork pioneered and operated her own bus service for almost half a century. She was also said to have been the first woman in New South Wales to be issued with an omnibus driver's licence which she held until the age of 74 in 1963. The first motor bus route licence in Sydney was issued on 21 April 1907 by Warringah Council to John Williams whose bus ran from Manly to Pittwater. Further buses had commenced by 1911, mostly in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. By 1926 there were 570 in operation. A number of servicemen returning from the First World War had purchased motorbuses and operated them privately in competition with government trams and trains. The State government tried to put an end to private motorbus operators and regulations were introduced in 1931 to discourage direct competition on routes already serviced by trams and trains. Numerous government takeovers occurred but regular non-government bus services were introduced in city areas not covered by public services, in country towns and between larger townships in the 1930s. Peck, Richard C. & Robert Merchant, "The Sydney Bus" Part 8, privately published, 2005. Simpson, Margaret, "On the Move: a history of transport in Australia", Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, 2004. Margaret Simpson Curator, Science & Industry July 2009
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Summary
Object Statement
Bus, International, full size, 'Biddy', model A-2, 15-passenger, 21 hp, engine No. 308589, metal / wood / [leatherette] / felt / canvas / glass, chassis made by International Harvester Co Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States of America, August 1933, body made by Syd Wood Motor Body Works, Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia, January 1934
Physical Description
The bus body is presently removed from the chassis. The chassis consists of a pressed-steel channel frame painted red. The side valve petrol engine is a 4-cylinder, L-head type on a three point mounting with rubber-cushioned rear mounts. The bus has black metal mud guards and two electric headlights. The black bonnet has a piano hinge down the centre allowing access to each side of the engine. Badges with 'INTERNATIONAL' are attached above the bonnet louvers and radiator. The dash board and a temporary bench seat are behind the bonnet. The dashboard instruments measure current, oil pressure and water temperature. The chassis is fitted with single wheels at the rear and has mechanically-actuated four wheel brakes. The wheels are six spoke, cast metal and resemble artillery wheels. The body of the bus is constructed on a basic wooden frame sheathed with formed mild steel sheeting. It has a sheet-steel ceiling and the roof is covered with canvas drawn over felt padding. A door with one step was the main access at the front of the bus, however the door has been removed. There is also a door at the rear left hand side of the bus. The bus was fitted with horizontal sliding windows on each side and fixed, split windows at the front and rear. The glass window panes have been removed. Leatherette covered seats are at the back of the bus and various parts have been removed and are stored inside the body of the vehicle. The exterior is painted dark grey with black trim. There is a tub containing additional parts from the bus. These include glass window panes in metal surrounds and leather or canvas covers. Specifications: Chassis: International model A-2 light truck Engine: 4 cylinder side valve petrol Engine made by: Waukesha Motor Co Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA Model No: XAH44A Date: August 1933 Engine No: 308589 Bore: 3 5/8 inch (8.89 cm) Stroke: 4½ inch (11.43 cm) Displacement: 185.8 cu inches Brake horse power: 39 at 2400 r.p.m. Lubrication: pressure feed Cooling system: pump circulation Battery: 6-volt, 13 plate Carburettor: vertical type, compound jet Fuel: Vacuum feed, 15-gallon tank under seat Clutch: 9-inch single plate with vibration damper Transmission: sliding gear selective type, mounted in unit with engine Speeds: 4-forward, 1 reverse Final drive: full-floating spiral-bevel gear Springs: semi-elliptic front & rear
DIMENSIONS
Height
4318 mm
Width
2413 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
The bus chassis is an International A-2 light truck type model, made by the International Harvester Co. of Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S.A., in August 1933. The International Harvester Company (IHC) is better known for its production of farm machinery, but in 1907 finalised its first motor buggy, or "auto buggy". In 1915 International introduced the Model E which had a heavier duty engine, a heavier crankshaft, and suspension with wider springs. Auto wagons and auto buggies carried the "IHC" logo on the water or petrol tank's dummy radiator, but in about 1914 this was replaced with the name "International". The name "auto wagon" was abandoned in 1915 in favour of "truck", which by this time referred to a layout comprising the radiator placed before the engine and covered with a bonnet. However, International's first truck was of the coal scuttle type with the engine in the front and the vulnerable radiator behind it. In about 1930 International Harvester began assigning both model and number codes to their trucks. The letter referred to the model and the number to the size. The International Model A-2 was manufactured in 136 inch (345 cm) and 160 inch (406 cm) wheelbases. The body of the bus was made by Syd Wood Motor Body Works in Bankstown, a Sydney suburb, in January 1934. Hinks, Ian. "A History of International Trucks in Australia" (Part 1) in "Restored Cars", No.141, July-August 2000, pp.10-13.
HISTORY
Notes
The bus was owned and operated by an early bus company at Waterfall, south of Sydney, established by Sarah Stork. It spent its whole working life in the Waterfall area. Sarah Stork was born in Cleveland Street, Sydney, on 8 November 1889, the only child of Samuel S. and Sarah Ann Stork. At the age of four months she moved with her parents to Cawley, near Helensburg, now a southern suburb of Sydney. When she was about 18 her father died and Sarah needed to support her mother. She began a transport business with a horse and sulky driving construction workers the 4 miles (6.4 km) from Waterfall railway station to the nearby hospital for consumptives. By 1912 Sarah had two second-hand sulkies and only two years later three coaches and nine horses. One of them was said to carry 25-passengers pulled by five horses. Sarah was a familiar sight to locals sitting high up on the box seat of her coach and also took the hospital patients on day trips to the Wollongong area. Sarah purchased her first motor bus in 1919, the canopy of which could be removed to carry goods. From the 1920s she carried timber from the Royal National Park to the railhead, won the Government contract to cart gravel across Madden's Plains and undertook haulage for the construction of Woronora Dam. On 12 July 1932 Sarah Stork (trading as Stork's bus Service) was issued with the licence for bus route No. 48. (Previously the route had operated as a country service.) In 1934 she purchased new this 15-passenger International bus and it began service on the route in January 1934 with motor vehicle registration No. 745. Route 48 operated from Waterfall to Woronora Dam and Waterfall station to the Waterfall State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis. The hospital, on the Old Princes Highway SW of Waterfall, had been established in 1909 for consumptives but from 1914 catered for suffers of T.B. In 1959 it became Garrawarra Hospital and in 1992 an aged care facility. By 1940 Sarah had added three Reo buses to her fleet with bodies made by the Sydney body builders, Syd Wood and Propert. Her buses also operated to Garie Beach (in the Royal National Park) and the fares to the Causeway were 1/- single and 1/6 return; to Maynard's Track 1/9 and 3/-; and Garie Beach 2/- and 3/6. Sarah Stork also ran two hire cars from Waterfall, HC 292 and HC 115. The fleet of vehicles was housed at Stork's depot yard at Waterfall behind the family home at 1935 Princes Highway, Waterfall. In 1960 Sarah passed the operation of the bus company to her son-in-law, Doug McCubben. The International bus was withdrawn from service in February 1967 and in that year donated to the Museum by Mr D. G. McCubben of Waterfall. In January 1968 McCubben sold the licence for route 48 to Bill Hadfield of Engadine. McCubben's mother-in-law, Sarah Mason (nee Stork), died in 1970. In the mid-1980s the chassis, running gear, and engine of the International bus were sent out from the Museum to be restored on contract. A partial restoration of the bodywork was undertaken before the contractor unfortunately closed down. The chassis restoration was completed for the Museum by the Government Motor Services at the Government Motor Garage in Glebe. The body and chassis of the bus are still separate and the bodywork has not been completed. Magor, Ken, 'Women Pioneers of Horse Bus Days", in "Truck & Buses Transportation", Vol. 29, No. 9, September 1965, p. 42. Midgley, A & F. "History of Road Transport in Sutherland Shire" Sutherland Shire Studies No. 7, at: http://www.sutherland.nsw.gov.au/ssc/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentPersonal/Old+Study+7+scanned.pdf/$file/Old+Study+7+scanned.pdf Hodson, Peter, "Once upon a time…Route 48" in "Fleetline", June 1960, p.91. "Coachwoman Lady Driver of the Mountains" in "The Sunday Times, Sydney", 5 July 1914, p.1.
SOURCE
Credit Line
Gift of McCUBBEN, D G, 1967
Acquisition Date
23 February 1967
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