ADELAIDE, SA. — The first petrol-driven car manufactured in Australia is believed to have been built by Harry A Tarrant in 1897. After modifications and improvements, Tarrant produced a second vehicle in 1901, which he named the Tarrant.
This was followed by several improved designs, including the first fully enclosed body made in Australia, and later models included locally designed and manufactured engines, gearboxes and rear axles.
Other vehicles began to be imported from 1900, when a Benz No 1 Ideal arrived in Sydney. Australians gradually embraced the motor car, and the ‘horseless carriage’ gained popularity.
With the increased number of automobiles came the need for more rules and controls.
In 1888, Karl Benz became the first man, worldwide, to obtain written permission to drive his automobile on public roads after citizens in Mannheim complained about the noise and smell from his vehicle.
In 1903, Prussia became the first European state to make a driver’s licence compulsory, and it was soon followed by other European nations.
South Australia was the first Australian state to pass a Motor Traffic Regulation Act, doing so in 1904.
This was followed by the first driver’s licence in Australia, issued in Adelaide on September 10, 1906. The recipient was Dr William Arthur Hargreaves, a chemist and government analyst, born on October 29, 1866, at Ipswich, Queensland.
Hargreaves had moved to South Australia in 1899. Trained as a chemist, Hargreaves had an interest in vehicles and fuel sources, and examined the feasibility of alternative fuel sources during World Wars I and II, even powering his own automobile on a mixture of molasses and petrol as World War I came to a close.
Licence plates and drivers’ licences were introduced in Victoria and New South Wales in 1910.
