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National Archives of Australia curator Anna Edmundson next to the oldest Holden registered in the ACT. Photo: James Coleman.<\/p>\n
The joke among staff is that Teslas might not find themselves welcome in the carpark at the National Archives of Australia over the next few months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve banned all Teslas from coming anywhere near the archives,\u201d curator Anna Edmundson laughs.<\/p>\n
The reason is what Ms Edmundson has spent years helping bring to Canberra \u2013 an exhibition devoted to the little-known stories behind the rise and fall of one of Australia\u2019s most-loved brands, Holden.<\/p>\n
And somewhere along the way, she\u2019s caught the bug herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, I was talking to the Canberra Classic Holden Club about getting myself an old one, and doing it up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
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Putting the exhibition together has tempted Ms Edmundson to get her own old Holden. Photo: James Coleman.<\/p>\n
For Ms Edmundson, that\u2019s part of what makes Holden such a fascinating subject.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t be like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m a Kellogg\u2019s guy\u2019. But there is something about Holden. That real sense of identity, sense of pride \u2013 not just obviously in the factories, but also Australians in general.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of my father\u2019s friends would only buy a Holden \u2013 they would never buy a Japanese car. And then obviously, you\u2019ve got the whole Holden versus Ford thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Open daily at the National Archives until 11 October, Rear vision: the Holden collection explores the company\u2019s journey from humble origins as a South Australian saddlery in the 1850s to becoming an Australian manufacturing icon before, ultimately, its sad demise in 2017.<\/p>\n
Ms Edmundson expects visitors to be most surprised by the fact that Holden existed almost a century before its first car.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a 1948 Holden FX in the foyer for the duration of the exhibition \u2013 the oldest Holden registered in the ACT,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the company actually started 100 years earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Founded by immigrant saddle-maker James Holden, the business first left its name on horse-drawn buggies and Melbourne tram bodies before entering the automotive space through a deal with General Motors in 1931.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that comes out from our archives is how inventive James Holden was right from the beginning,\u201d Ms Edmundson said.<\/p>\n
At the outbreak of war, Australia suddenly found itself in a very precarious place, fed only by supply lines.<\/p>\n
Spurred on by prime minister Robert Menzies\u2019 rallying cry of \u201call in\u201d, the country immediately doubled down on efforts to build military aircraft, engines and vehicles domestically.<\/p>\n
Holden stepped into the breach, helping produce everything from munitions to military vehicles and aircraft parts.<\/p>\n
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Holden\u2019s first engine was for something much bigger than a car. Photo: James Coleman.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a huge period of innovation for the company,\u201d Ms Edmundson says.<\/p>\n
Among the exhibition\u2019s centrepieces is the Gypsy Major aircraft engine \u2013 significant because it predates any Holden car engine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is actually the first Holden engine \u2013 so, way before they made a car engine, they made an aeroplane engine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The war effort also dramatically expanded Holden\u2019s workforce, with women also making up around 35 per cent of employees at some factories.<\/p>\n
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An \u2018interactive\u2019 portion of the exhibition invites visitors to submit their own designs for a future Holden. Photo: James Coleman.<\/p>\n
Ms Edmundson believes Australia\u2019s first fully manufactured car may have arrived much later without the pressures of wartime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it absolutely sped it up, 100 per cent,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt needed that push, it needed the government\u2019s support, but it also needed a level of \u2013 not just technology, but \u2013 self-confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
That confidence culminated in the launch of the Holden 48-215 in 1948 \u2013 a car most Australians now know by a different name.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original name was 48-215,\u201d Ms Edmundson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as soon as the FJ got released \u2026 everyone started calling it the FX, and that\u2019s based on the name of a particular new part in later models.\u201d<\/p>\n
It turns out Holden changed the front suspension on the car a few years in, with the abbreviation for \u201cfront crossmember\u201d \u2013 \u201cFX\u201d \u2013 pencilled onto the parts list by GM designers.<\/p>\n
Subsequent names, like the Torana, Camira, and Maloo were taken from First Nations languages \u2013 even if the peoples weren\u2019t always consulted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just plucked them out of dictionaries \u2013 at that period in time, they didn\u2019t talk to the First Nations people about what the words actually meant.\u201d<\/p>\n
The archives exhibition also focuses on the people behind the cars, drawing heavily on oral histories from former Holden workers.<\/p>\n
That connection extended to Australian music icon Jimmy Barnes, whose family worked at Holden\u2019s Elizabeth plant. Archives staff even invited him to perform at the exhibition launch (he declined, unfortunately).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been nice if he\u2019d come and perform for free for us,\u201d Ms Edmundson laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did ask.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A 1:3 scale model of the Holden VE Commodore. Photo: James Coleman.<\/p>\n
Another labour of love involved a detailed Lego Holden model that missed the initial deadline for installation in the exhibition space, but a staff member\u2019s family came to the rescue and pieced it together over the King\u2019s Birthday long weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur colleague Grace deserves a bloody medal for that, her and her two young daughters,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The exhibition concludes with Holden\u2019s closure in 2017, a chapter Ms Edmundson describes as \u201ca very, very sad story\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just too expensive. We were getting cheaper models from Japan and Korea. Cars were getting smaller. They were getting more technologically advanced, and it was considered not financially sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
To the point it deserves a firm stand from the archives against modern rivals \u2013 like Tesla.<\/p>\n
Rear vision: the Holden collection is open every day, 9 am to 5 pm, until 11 October. Entry is free. Visit the NAA<\/a> website for more information.<\/p>\n