Nevill obviously enjoyed the challenge of travelling through the desert, for in 1930 he and his brother, Guy, volunteered to travel to outback West Australia and collect money for ‘The Appeal’. They spent three weeks on this trip and had many adventures.
The two brothers set out with a car and motorcycle along with all the other provisions they would need. They left Perth on 8 March and made their way to Payne’s Find, an abandoned mining town, where they spent the Sabbath. On Sunday they separated, with Nevill heading to Yalgoo and Guy going towards Mount Magnet.
At Yalgoo Nevill met Mrs Johnstone, who had been keeping the Sabbath for nearly 15 years but had seldom been visited by Adventists. She was delighted to see Neville again, as he had met her on his previous travels, and he was just as delighted that he could encourage her in her faith.
Neville had only just left Yalgoo when he found he had stripped two of the teeth off the crown-wheel pinion. Afraid that it would give way completely Nevill knelt in the dust and asked God to keep the part from breaking any further. He set out again but the bumping and knocking noise continued. He had just about decided to abandon the car and trudge the 50 miles to the nearest telegraph office when the noise suddenly stopped and the car ran smoothly.
Neville knew that the owner of the next station was away, so planned to bypass it, but he was impressed to visit the station anyway. He found the manager and showed him the Appeal magazine, but the manager was not at all interested. Nevill didn’t give up. He mentioned his previous trip with Rudolph Schick and the manager’s attitude changed. He had read about the medical and dental work they had done.
“Oh, I guess you had better put my name down for a fiver,” he said. Then he called all his men and told them about Nevill and his work and they all donated 1 pound each. By the time the day was over Nevill had collected 25 pounds and best of all had been able to witness to some of the influential settlers in the area.
Nevill met up with Guy again, and from Meekatharra they faced 120 miles of a dusty waterless track to Wiluna. Nevill had tried to get a replacement for the broken pinion but it wasn’t available, and to their dismay the pinion gave away again, 30 miles out from Meekatharra. Between them they managed to patch things up and reached Wiluna, but it wasn’t until much later they were able to salvage a used pinion from a rubbish tip to repair the car. 1.
So what happened to Bubsie? Nevill’s brother sold the little Citroen in 1926 but Nevill later bought it back and kept it until his death in 1969. Nevill’s son Ron inherited the car and at the 50th anniversary of the trip around Australia he began to restore the car.
Ron had hoped to join Jim Reddiex in his planned re-run of that first expedition, but unfortunately Bubsie had not been fully restored by the time the 50th anniversary rolled around. Jim and his crew called in to see Bubsie while they were in Perth and Greg Davis, Nevill’s partner on the first trip and now an old man, visited Bubsie too. It was a joyful reunion. The memories brought tears to his eyes, and he explained the reason for some holes in the body and dashboard where Neville had made modifications for the original trip. 2.
Ron dreamed of taking Bubsie around Australia for the 75th anniversary, but his advancing age and insufficient financial support saw the trip cancelled at the last minute.3.
The National Museum of Australia in Canberra purchased Bubsie in 2005 and it is now housed in a controlled storage environment, making occasional appearances at special events.4.
In 2025, for the 100th anniversary of the epic voyage, the Incredible Journey media ministry is planning to re-enact the historic trip ‘Right Around’ to again help Australians consider Our Day in Light of Bible Prophecy. A 1923 Citroen 5CV vehicle has been purchased and restored to re-enact the original trip, and will continue the witness of Nevill and Greg by running Prophecy Seminars in the towns and cities en route, and share publications with interested people.
REFERENCES:
- Article by Nevill Westwood. Australasian Record. May 21, 1928. Vol 32 No 21.
- Wade, Russell. First car driven around Australia. Front Drive. Retrieved from https://citroenclassic.org.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Vol-43-No-6-1.pdf
- Wilson, Jennifer. A small car with a big story. Retrieved from https://pateblog.nma.gov.au/2015/08/05/a-small-car-with-a-big-story
- The Citroen Tourer. Retrieved from https://www.nma.gov.au/explore/collection/highlights/citroen-tourer
