Replica of Bubsie, the first car to circumnavigate Australia, to retrace 1925 journey

Australia Broadcast Center

18-05-2025

A century ago, a 5-horsepower car fondly known as Bubsie became the first motor vehicle to circumnavigate Australia.
The 1923 Citroën 5CV was pushed to the limit, bush-bashing its way across the country.
And while the original car is in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, a new group of adventurers is preparing to retrace Bubsie's tracks with a completely restored 1923 Citroën 5CV.
Motoring enthusiast Warren May said he first heard of the project, Right Around Australia, by faith-based group The Incredible Journey in May 2023, and decided to get involved.
It had been a challenge for the group to find a car of the same model and year as Bubsie until they came across car aficionado Paul Smyth in New South Wales who was willing to part with his 102-year-old Citroën 5CV.
The car's seats and bonnet had already been worked on before Mr May became involved in the project but it still required extensive repairs.
He recruited his friend Colin Gibbs to work on it with him, however, they both quickly realised the body work would be too much for them, so they enlisted another car enthusiast, Graham Tyler.
Mr Tyler did all the body work and cut out all the rust.
The entire restoration took more than 1,000 hours and involved taking almost every nut and bolt off the body work for repairs, sandblasting and repainting.
Mr May said the motor was fortunately in good condition, and the restored car was now fully drivable.
The replica was completed a year ago and has been displayed in cities across the country since the beginning of 2025.
From June, the 1923 Citroën 5CV will be hitting the road to retrace the 17,500km route of 1925.
Starting at Bickley in Western Australia, the replica will undertake a good chunk of the journey on the back of a trailer but will hit the road to take on some of the key routes.
In 1925, Bubsie's 22-year-old driver, Nevill Westwood, was a member of the Seventh Day Adventist missionary and had a history of doing long odysseys across the outback.
According to the National Museum of Australia, the 1920s was a time where many explorers, such as Francis Birtles, were pushing the boundaries of motoring technologies with extensive expeditions.
In the winter of 1925, Mr Westwood and his friend Greg Davies set off from Perth with a mission to take literature to outback stations in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Bubsie was loaded with swags, clothes, an extra fuel tank, water, oil, spare tyres and other supplies.
While reliable road infrastructure spans the country today, event organiser Kevin Amos said there were not many roads for the pair to follow in 1925.
"It was pretty slippery and slidey across the Northern Territory when it rained, but once they reached Mount Isa there were formal roads down to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne [and] Adelaide."
Tyre punctures and the need for help along the way were common, including the car being carried by pulley across the Fitzroy River with the help of the local community.
Mr May said Bubsie was a "very basic car" that was not always easy for the explorers to drive.
"Nevill Westwood was 6-foot-3-high and he took a mate, Greg, with him that was nearly as tall," he said.
Once the pair arrived in Darwin, a feat in itself, Mr May said they resolved to finish the circle.
"[Mr Westwood] decided: 'Well, we've come halfway around, why not go the other half?'" he said.
Mr May said when in Sydney, the drivers received word another crew was attempting the full lap of Australia behind them.
"The story goes that he decided to hightail it back to Perth," he said.
The path back to Perth was hot and lonesome, with Mr Davies quitting the journey at Albury to return to his nursing studies.
The entire trip took six months to complete, finishing December 30, 1925.
The story was preserved in photographs and a few letters that were passed on to the National Museum of Australia by Mr Westwood's descendants.
Curator Dr Laura Cook said the photos offered an almost day-by-day account of the expedition.
According to Mr Amos, Mr Westwood came across a broken-down car while crossing the Nullarbor.
"There were two ladies and a man in the car. They had run out of water. They were severely dehydrated," he said.
Ms Cook said she could not confirm the story but had no doubt it was the kind of mateship travellers had with each other at this time.
"It does chime with what we know of him," she said.
"There's kind of an unwritten code amongst these record-breakers and intrepid motorists that you would always stop to help somebody if you saw them at the side of the road, even if they were engaged in the same record-breaking attempt as you."
Once Mr Westwood had made it home, he put Bubsie into storage while he continued travelling on church business.
While Mr Westwood's brother sold Bubsie in 1926, as soon as he returned from overseas, he bought the car back.
The car remains fully preserved in both form and function at the National Museum of Australia.