A Way to Go

The National Motorcycle Museum at Nabiac

 I felt both a delight and obligation to visit the holy grail of motorcycle collections in Australia. It is the National Motorcycle Museum at Nabiac, a small town situated about 25 km south of Taree, 145 km north of Newcastle and about seven hours drive from Canberra up the Pacific Highway. 

Having made a previous decision to visit Myall Lakes National Park (brilliant place, camping or whatever!) over Easter, it was just a short drive to the museum. The original collection used to be housed over a bike shop at Mitchell, but as the ACT Government (at that time) would not provide fee land to the owners, the Kelleher family, to build a full museum they up and left Canberra unfortunately leaving some bad blood on both sides. 

The museum is now housed in a U shaped, custom designed building which is effectively a very large iron shed on a concrete base and is currently home for over 720 motorcycles, of which more than 600 are owned by the Kellehers (Brian and Margaret) and the rest are on loan from private owners. The museum also boasts a huge range (no other word can describe it) of memorabilia, including signs, posters, badges, clothing, engine parts and everything else motorcycling. One great feature in this regard is the west end of the main section of the shed devoted to speedway, which has been built by a local club and is quite superb and includes bikes, banners, awards and heaps of other memorabilia. 

Having left Sheryle and a couple of friends to find an (excellent) coffee shop, I paid the $11 entrance fee and spent a couple of hours pottering around, looking for my favourite marques and models. There was no problem with the former, but rather more with the latter, particularly regarding the “classic” models – always a matter of taste of course! 

The central hall is the base of the U and contains the classics, largely British bikes including some absolute beauties. Ariel, BSA, Triumph, AJS, Matchless, Sunbeam, Douglas, Excelsior, Panther, Rover, Rudge, James, Ivor Johnson, Velocette and Vincent all get coverage, including some of the greatest bikes of all time – the Ariel Square Four, a Leader and BSA Gold Star, the true DB34 model. I went looking for my own model BSA, the B33 (which is supposed to be here) but could only find the smaller B31. BSA is almost over-represented from 1919 onwards to the 1970s, (if that was possible) with a great collection of Bantams, a 1924 flat tanker and a number of Slopers. 

From Vincent, a Black Knight in excellent nick is the pick, but what an ugly bike! From Brough, there is the Brough Superior SS80 – but no Brough SS100 nor Vincent Black Shadow Series C for that matter. And so it was across the range. There is a great showing of bikes, but some of the truly classic models are not represented (recognising that some of these are very valuable now, but given that they should be represented in a truly “National” Museum?).  

A few rare ones are also represented, including a truly beautiful 1937 Coventry Eagle (247cc) and a Francis Barnett with a Villiers 250cc engine – my little brother’s first bike! In a corner, I also found my father’s first bike model, a Malvern Star cycle with a FB engine. Others including some from Australia included Battle Wagon, Waratah, DKW, OK Supreme and others I had not previously heard of. 

This is also the hall for Harley Davidson, with a truly pitiful representation of just five bikes (so they don’t get stolen I was told) – the WLA outfit being the only one of note. There is also an Aermacchi or two, once owned by Harley. Ducati does better with a range of classic 1970 models including a Desmo. So too does Indian with a couple of excellent examples of the Indian Scout from 1926, but no Indian Chief. 

The bikes are arranged in rows, with most are set square to the walkway, making them particularly hard to photograph. As the collection has grown, more and more have been fitted into the space, aggravating this situation. In addition, an A4 sized description sheet, bound in heat-shrink plastic is attached to the handle bars with a zip tie. The combination of position and this notice makes them particularly difficult to photograph well, and this is made worse by a shiny silver insulation paper and un-filtered lighting at the ceiling. 

A few of the best models, carefully restored have been set up on wooden stands, and this helps considerably in observing them closely, and taking a fair photo. However, at another place in the first room, there is a large box on the floor (approximately 6m by 4m) full of old engines in no particular order – surely these could have been put into storage to make more room for a classic collection, with bikes set at 45 degree angles to the walkway and therefore made more easily viewed and photographed? Ditto for the notices – if the museum took up the Tamworth system of putting them into Perspex stands on the floor so that they could be moved for a moment to get the picture? (Next time, maybe I should just take a small pair of side cutters and remove them for a moment!). 

Next I went into the left (western) hall, mostly dedicated to Japanese and competition bikes, and strangely to BMW! Courtesy of a dealer, the Yamaha collection is fabulous, including my all time favourite “boy terror” two-stroke bike the RD250 and the TZ models. The museum has a few quirky bikes, including a Yamaha XS1000 covered from one end to the other in stickers, by an Australian female rider who took it all over the world. Kawasaki also gets a look-in with those fabulous balls-to-the-wall triples from the seventies and eighties including a Z900. 

The Honda collection is also worth a look, with the classic CB range fairly good collection, including that icon of sports bike insanity, the Honda 750 “Four” – boy did I desire one of this flat-tank masterpieces in 1979! There is even a cut-away model of the engine that is quite revealing. But once again, that absolute classic boy racer bike of the 1980s, the Honda 400 Four is missing – a real pity as there is plenty of these around Australia. Suzuki gets less of a run, but there a selection of the older models that bring back memories – a GT380, GT550 and GT750 are classics, but not that absolute bitch of a two-stroker the GT250 – which was once voted as one of top five worst bikes of all time by “Bike” magazine – but we still rode them – into the ground! 

Down this wing are also a bunch of dirt bikes and some classic trials models including my all time favourite the Bultaco Sherpa T , an Ossa and a Montessa or two.  One to really look for is a Chang Jiang “boxer” bike, brand new, but looking like its already had a hard life – anyone who wants to complain about the finish of their own new bike should look at this one – it’s a real shocker and brought the importer to tears. 

Strangely there are a few BMW’s here, about six of them all together but not a real classic amongst them – no R80, no R90S, no K1, no GS1100 or 1150 – what a shame given they are so popular and readily available. There is a nice Model 25 though. Equally strange is the fact that there is a real “mud plugger” – I think a GS100 in a completely different hall, unique for the fact that it has TWO rear rims – welded together and definitely worth seeing. It’s a pity it was not included with the other Beemers.  There is also an interesting BMW outfit in screaming yellow that seams to have attended all the 1990s Safaris. 

At the other end were a bunch of Italian bikes, including the Ducatis already noted. Also represented are Moto Guzzi, Augusta, Laverda and of course, Vespa from Piaggo, plus about a dozen other scooters – not bad for this end of town. 

After nearly two hours, I headed for the foyer, expecting to welcome my friends in and show them a few choice models, and browse the shop for some books. But the un-expected happened. Having mentioned to  Margaret earlier, that I was from Canberra, she went into a tirade (to another person in my earshot) about how pushy Canberrans were in front of four of us from Canberra, which I found quite distressing, having had a perfectly relaxed time inside, and certainly had not been a nuisance! So the others did not pay their entrance fee, nor did I buy the books I had looked at – we just left, puzzled as to why you would rip into a customer indirectly. 

So how would I sum up this experience? It is certainly great that someone has collected such a wide range of bikes and prevented them heading overseas, and I have no issue with the location, as it is on the side of Australia’s Highway One. And I would make a return for a more detailed browse. But it was strangely un-satisfying.  

The layout and presentation is appalling, and some of the items should be stored or just dumped to give way to the gems of the collection. Put the signage on the floor, and align the bikes for photography. Fix the lighting and ceiling, and pave the gravel car park! But more importantly, collect a very small number of the truly classic bikes that are not represented, and which must appear in a National Museum. And welcome all visitors, as customers – those of us from Canberra are human after all.  

For the cognoscenti, frankly the Tamworth bike museum is smaller but far superior, with the bikes are in better condition and the presentation and signage is thoughtful. The car park is sealed for biker visitors and the host is knowledgeable and agreeable. While I will go back to both, I know which I prefer. So take a look and tell us what you found and think?

Olaf Moon 2006