ANARE Club at Government House Canberra

Forty-two clubs/organisations, for which Their Excellencies General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) and Mrs Linda Hurley are patrons, took up the offer of staging an exhibition.

The ANARE club had a prime position quite near to the residence and the display consisted of mannequins dressed in modern and vintage Antarctic clothing, the replica of VW Antarctica 1, numerous life-size penguins and various other artefacts including Phil Barnaart’s Mawson 1988 photo album.

There was no shortage of local members volunteering to assist with setup and the conduct of the exhibition – Malcolm Robertson, Kit Scally, Joe Johnson, Peter Bourke & Alison Clifton, Bob Tomkins, Bill Breeze from interstate and various others.

Their excellencies visited the ANARE club site separately and engaged with the crew – especially President Dodd (who had flown in for the occasion) and Joe Johnson (the latter being a member of the Order of Australia Association).

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The red “VW Beetle”, a replica of the original red 1963 Mawson VW Antarctica 1, was brought to Government House for the event by Sue Maher as a tribute to her late father Ray Christie.  When the original VW Antarctica 1 was returned to Australia in 1964, it went on to compete in the 1964 BP Rally of South Eastern Australia. Driven by Ray Christie the “Red Terror” and Joe Dunlop, still sporting its unique number plate plus the conventional one HZB 624 went on to win the 2000-mile event. It won outright and took the class prize with another VW coming in third.

  • General Hurley in the VW
  • Government House Canberra
  • Antarctica 1 and penguins
  • Government House Canberra
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