I have only just seen this thread - so thanks, Ben. Very interesting to hear the history of what are now called "Camden Country" routes, west of Camden, part of region 15.Ben O wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 8:41 pm Hi all,
More tangential information here.. I apologise. By coincidence I recently researched Higlett's as a tangent to investigating the Lee family of Picton Omnibus, which in itself was a tangent when looking into the Heise family of Cooma Coaches!
Several factors arose in the 1940's that saw bus and hire car operations flourish in Camden in that decade. The opening of guest houses in the Burragorang Valley created the need for transport off Pansy - the Camden train - out the rugged roads to The Oaks, Burragorang and further west. The decade also seemed to be a formative period for the establishment of school bus services across regional New South Wales. The passenger services attracted the interest of local P&C' committees, who saw opportunity in using the vehicles that were otherwise unused during school hours. Some early timetables also refer to miners' services.
Jack Pippen was a farmer who saw opportunity in transporting hoildyamakers to guest houses. The service ran Camden - The Oaks - Nattai - Burragorang House - Bimlow. Noting Nattai is the furthest western point of the current Region 15 network, I could not determine the exact location of Bimlow, which was a further hour beyond Nattai in Pippen's timetable. Jack Pippen passed away 14 August 1946. In or around December 1948, the service passed from Mrs M. Pippen (widow?) to Mr Peter S. Withers. Despite several operators regularly publishing passenger timetables and advertising special trips in the Camden News, Withers disappeared from the Camden News immediately after December 1948.
George W. Higlett moved to Camden from Sydney in 1948, purchasing a mail run between Camden and Yerranderie (40 miles / 65 km), using a car and trailer. He partnered with Gordon L. Lee to commence a bus service from Camden - Burragorang - Yerranderie commencing Tuesday 1st June 1948. Expansion occurred very quickly. By the end of 1948, additional routes were operated and the fleet consisted of 6 buses, followed by an extra 2 purchased on local services at Picton in 1949.
Regards,
Ben
Yerranderie is west of the Wollondilly River, which flows into Warragamba Dam. As I understand, access to it from Camden was cut off when the dam filled up in the 1950s/60s and you now get there via Oberon and an unsealed road. I'd never heard of Bimlow, but Google has produced this link:
https://www.stayinthebush.com.au/stay-i ... -edith-nsw
So Bimlow is near somewhere near Edith, which is between Oberon and Jenolan Caves.
I found a map on line showing all these places, but can't work out how to show the link (not secure?).