Broken Hill Veteran and Vintage Car Club’s bi-annual Bushman’s Rally has been cancelled a couple of times due to Covid lockdowns but they’re back on track this Easter weekend to showcase Broken Hill to old school vehicle enthusiasts from far and wide.
Started by 10 blokes back in the late 1960s, the Broken Hill Veteran and Vintage Car Club started the Bushman’s Rally in the late 1970s as a way of getting veteran, vintage, and classic vehicle buffs together to share stories and form friendships across our remote region.
This week we had a chat with Bushman’s Rally organiser, David Stellini.
“The Bushman’s Rally theme this year is History of the Picnic Train, and the main event will be a Perilya mine tour, which is a rare opportunity in itself,” Mr Stellini told us.
“We’ll be driving around the Broken Hill region with this year’s participants – so far 65 cars have been entered, which is around 100 people coming from the Riverland, Mildura, Adelaide, and even a few from Victoria joining local members for the rally,” he said.
“The event runs from Friday March 29 to Monday April 1, so we’d love to see new faces come along to help showcase Broken Hill museums, clubs, businesses, and everyone receives a quality participation badge just for coming along for the ride,” said Mr Stellini.
“We’re looking forward to getting the Bushman’s Rally back on the road after we had to cancel it in 2020 and then again in 2022 due to Covid,” he said.
“The event was started in the late 1970s just as a way to get like-minded people together to display their cars and motorcycles, and to attract new people to Broken Hill.
“It’s generally a great group of people from an older demographic in their 70s and 80s, who like to be looked after a bit, so they pay a rally fee, and we organise the venue and all of the activities including a few relaxing short rally trips around Broken Hill,” said Mr Stellini.
The public is invited to view a Show & Shine event from 9am on Sunday March 31 at Zinc Lakes at 61/59 Silver City Hwy but only Bushman’s Rally participants can enter their cars.
“All Bushman’s Rally cars are in the running for prizes at the Show & Shine event. We categorise the cars and motorcycles by decades. So we’ll judge vehicles manufactured between 1950s to 1960s, 1970s to 1980s, with 1994 being the youngest vehicle permitted to take part in the rally,” says Mr Stellini.
“Broken Hill is known for being a very giving community so local businesses donate prizes for the winners – paintings and prints by local artists, and so on. It’s just a great event where we provide meals and support for attendees so they can feel relaxed about coming along to explore the Silver City and meet new like-minded people,” he said.
To find out more, call David on 0488 521 753.
To sign up to attend the 2024 Bushman’s Rally, go to: https://rvccc.com.au/events/bushmans-rally-2024/
