In modern times we tend to take for granted the ease of transport when we can hop into our cars, onto a bus, train or plane and arrive at our destination in a relatively short time? Not so in the early days.
In Proserpine in the 1930s, many residents relied on bus transport. One such bus was MacPherson’s Bus Service that was used by Strathdickie families.
The bus was a 1935/36 two-ton Bedford truck with a tray body fitted. There were two bench seats with back rests near the front just behind the cab. The rest of the tray was space for groceries. Thursday was the allotted town day. MacPherson’s farm was at the top end of Strathdickie. Families were collected along the way; others waited to drop off orders. There was no regular timetable - sometimes 9 o’clock, sometimes 11, dependent on how much livestock had to be caught and loaded. At times, there would be one or two pigs in a crate, wire cages with turkeys, ducks, geese.
It was an open-air trip but was not uncomfortable as the bus travelled at only about 3mph, what with the condition of the roads, frequent stops, hills and gullies. Mrs Mac, as everyone called her, was a pretty rough driver and the brakes didn’t always work - it was a miracle that there was never an accident.
On livestock days, the bus would pull in behind Foxlee’s Butcher shop and on other days, passengers alighted at Faust’s corner in Mill Street.
Leaving town was the highlight. Pickup would begin at 4pm at Foxlee’s Butchers for meat, then to the Co-op where groceries would be on the footpath, then around to Fausts for meat and groceries. The last stop was at the mill gates to collect bread orders from Sam Killian’s Bakery. By then, it was about 5pm and the fun would begin. Some passengers would be in the hotel so a couple of people would take off to get them. They in turn would disappear. The original ones would turn up and volunteer to go back for the others. This took about half an hour and departure time was usually later than 5.30pm.
Groceries were loaded haphazardly so there would be much shifting and searching as passengers were dropped off. Mostly the groceries were put in cases with a docket. Often there were big brown paper packets of pollard and bran. Meat was wrapped in paper and tied with string and a name tag. Frequently, with all the sorting, the tag would fall off. Winter time was the worst as it would be pitch dark by the time the bus reached the hall. Striking matches and looking for people’s goods took up more time but at least the further along they travelled, the fewer parcels there were to sift through.
Story and photo courtesy of the Proserpine Historical Museum.
Killian's Bakery Waite Street 1934 L-R Phyllis Gannon (nee Leeds), Sam Killian, Snow Matthews, Hew Strickland
Fausts Bros - a major port of call on the trip to town
Proserpine's Main Street in 1938
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