BUNBURY PRE 1955
STANLEY CATLETT
Not many would be familiar with the tragic plane crash in Bunbury in 1933 that claimed the lives of two young Bunbury men, Colin Teede and Stan Catlett, and even fewer would know of the adventurous life of the twenty six year old Stanley Waldo Catlett.
Stan was born in 1907, the second son of Mr and Mrs Ernest Waldo Catlett. Catlett Snr was a jeweller and watchmaker who lived and conducted his business from premises in Wellington Street, roughly where South's Furniture store is today.
Stan served a mechanical apprenticeship and by 1924 worked as a mechanic with the Narrogin Trading Co, which at the time had the Ford dealership. His skill in tuning and repairing any type of motor was recognised by the motoring public of the day and his services were always in demand.
His obvious love of speed was not only motorcycles and cars, but also speedboats. The tales of his exploits in scaring locals on the estuary from Turkey Point to the Collie River are still remembered.
In 1927, after completing a number of successful seaons on the Speedway track in Perth, he decided to compete on the lucrative Speedway scene in Great Britain. To defray costs he joined a tramp steamer as fourth engineer, and after a four month voyage reached Liverpool.
He approached the top English Club Wembley, and with borrowed riding gear and riding an unfamiliar bike he make his debut, and was soon competing on the English club circuit, adding to his reputation as one of the top Australian riders to enter the English Speedway circuit.
Racing was conducted over four to five nights a week and consequently prize money earned by a top rider amounted to film star status. He was appointed captain for the Wembley side and at the close of the English season, returned to Australia with fellow Aussie riders and the English Speedway Team for a Test Series in all major cities.
The Perth press made much of Catlett's return as a passenger occupying a stateroom on a P&O liner, in contrast to his departure on a cargo boat.
Bunbury folk were out in force to welcome Catlett on his return from England and of course he arrived in style, flying into town in a borrowed aircraft, accompanied by the captain of the England team, Jack Ormiston, as well as Catlett's team mate.
Stan was born in 1907, the second son of Mr and Mrs Ernest Waldo Catlett. Catlett Snr was a jeweller and watchmaker who lived and conducted his business from premises in Wellington Street, roughly where South's Furniture store is today.
Stan served a mechanical apprenticeship and by 1924 worked as a mechanic with the Narrogin Trading Co, which at the time had the Ford dealership. His skill in tuning and repairing any type of motor was recognised by the motoring public of the day and his services were always in demand.
His obvious love of speed was not only motorcycles and cars, but also speedboats. The tales of his exploits in scaring locals on the estuary from Turkey Point to the Collie River are still remembered.
In 1927, after completing a number of successful seaons on the Speedway track in Perth, he decided to compete on the lucrative Speedway scene in Great Britain. To defray costs he joined a tramp steamer as fourth engineer, and after a four month voyage reached Liverpool.
He approached the top English Club Wembley, and with borrowed riding gear and riding an unfamiliar bike he make his debut, and was soon competing on the English club circuit, adding to his reputation as one of the top Australian riders to enter the English Speedway circuit.
Racing was conducted over four to five nights a week and consequently prize money earned by a top rider amounted to film star status. He was appointed captain for the Wembley side and at the close of the English season, returned to Australia with fellow Aussie riders and the English Speedway Team for a Test Series in all major cities.
The Perth press made much of Catlett's return as a passenger occupying a stateroom on a P&O liner, in contrast to his departure on a cargo boat.
Bunbury folk were out in force to welcome Catlett on his return from England and of course he arrived in style, flying into town in a borrowed aircraft, accompanied by the captain of the England team, Jack Ormiston, as well as Catlett's team mate.
Catlett was enjoying another spectacular season when he had one of the worst crashes in his career, badly breaking a leg in two places. After seven weeks convalescing he finished the season and returned home to Bunbury with funds in his pocket and the desire to open his own business.
He continued earning top money as a star attraction at Claremont Speedway, but he must have realised the need to consolidate his life and a decision was made to open his own garage and workshop. He was assisted in this endeavour with the help of the Ramsay family who were farmers in the Capel district. They secured land on the South East corner of Stirling and Spencer Streets and built a garage and workshop for Stan, who had at this stage secured the Morris dealership for the district.
The busy period of setting up the business to open in December 1933 saw Stan off to Perth to secure stock, and to enjoy a few days break before the big opening day.
Deciding that a good way to relax and enjoy the freedom of the air was to hire an aircraft from the Royal Aero Club (he was a member) and apparently without thought for the consquences and without permission, decided on a trip to Bunbury. That fateful decison was made on November 29 1933, and the rest is history.
Thanks to Ray Repacholi for his input on the Catlett story. Ray was part of a group who put together a series of six books titled:
Bunbury: I Remember When.
The Catlett story was also made possible with the kind assistance of his nephew Frank Handley, and family, with newpaper cuttings and family photos.
He continued earning top money as a star attraction at Claremont Speedway, but he must have realised the need to consolidate his life and a decision was made to open his own garage and workshop. He was assisted in this endeavour with the help of the Ramsay family who were farmers in the Capel district. They secured land on the South East corner of Stirling and Spencer Streets and built a garage and workshop for Stan, who had at this stage secured the Morris dealership for the district.
The busy period of setting up the business to open in December 1933 saw Stan off to Perth to secure stock, and to enjoy a few days break before the big opening day.
Deciding that a good way to relax and enjoy the freedom of the air was to hire an aircraft from the Royal Aero Club (he was a member) and apparently without thought for the consquences and without permission, decided on a trip to Bunbury. That fateful decison was made on November 29 1933, and the rest is history.
Thanks to Ray Repacholi for his input on the Catlett story. Ray was part of a group who put together a series of six books titled:
Bunbury: I Remember When.
The Catlett story was also made possible with the kind assistance of his nephew Frank Handley, and family, with newpaper cuttings and family photos.
Photo taken in 1937 of Stan's workshop building is the closest we can get to the original. The building was renamed Jane's Motors and sits where Hot FM is in 2011
BUNBURY SHOWGROUNDS
The Bunbury Show Grounds was originally owned by the Wellington Agriculture Society.
The Bunbury Council took it over and renamed it The Forrest Memorial Oval, some time later it was renamed to what we know it today as, Hands Oval.
The Showground hosted motor cycle racing in the early 1930's.
On a race meeting on 2nd November 1930, Charles Wear crashed his machine heavily and was rushed to hospital but unfortunately lost his battle for life the following day.
BUNBURY MOORELANDS
The mid forties saw the constuction of a 440 yard flat motorcycle and side car track in Moorelands opposite the old Picton School. The track was oval in shape and the surface was covered with cinders, (a by-product from steam engines).
The machines were all stripped down road bikes.
As it was just after the war, many families did not have cars so Henderson's Bus Service ran a shuttle service to the track for spectators.
Time passed and the flat speedway track was closed and a scramble track was built nearby, weaving amongst the trees and through the wet areas. Racing continued until the mid 1950's.
BUNBURY RECREATION GROUND
Motorcycle racing was also conducted at the Recreation Grounds off Ocean Drive in the early 1950's.
BUNBURY CAR CLUB INCEPTION 1954
At the showrooms of Walton and Gardiners Holden dealership in Spencer Street an idea was formed to hold a car trial. The trial took place on a Sunday afternoon in 1954 at an open cut mine site at Allanson near Collie.
This proved to be very successful with Pop Hudson, his son David, Jim Renfree, Ernie Stevens and many others competing. Families and friends went along as onlookers and had such a good time that a meeting was held and the Bunbury Car Club came into being. It was not long before people like Syd Hudson, Neville Hyder, Vern Karlsen, Colin Resta, Jimmy Kingswood, Jimmy Wilson and many more joined the club.
Most cars involved were FX and FJ Holdens until a young fellow named Teede arrived in a Volkswagen to win the time trial come hill climb along the Collie pipe line. As the choice of car diversified to many other manufacturers, so did the type of events. This included six and twelve hour trials taking them as far afield as Narrogin, Albany, Esperance and out past Balladonia in the east.
1954 saw the team of Ted Walton and Jack Jack Gardiner enter the Redex Round Australia Trial as Bunbury Car Club members in an FJ Holden.
In a short time the club's activities were so widely publicised that the organisers of the 1955 Redex Round Australia Trial requested assistance fron the Bunbury Car Club to man checkpoints in West Australia. As Ted Walton and Jack Gardiner were competing in the trial other members such as Graeme Hurst, Neville Hyder, Syd Hudson, Bert Renfree and his sons, Ted Johnston and Ron Isles set off for Broome and Port Hedland to officiate at check points.
The pictures below start with the South West Times Banner 23 July 1955. Our thanks to the SWT for allowing us to use their content.
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