Australia is the sort of place where you could hit the road first thing in the morning, drive until sunset, and still find yourself in the same state you started in. Vehicles with two, four and many more wheels have always been integral to conquering this tyranny of distance. We regard them not only with great affection, but as integral to our national identity.

 

It’s this sentiment that brings around 35,000 visitors each year to the Museum of Vehicle Evolution, or MOVE, in Shepparton in northern Victoria. In less than 15 years since opening (originally as the Shepparton Motor Museum), MOVE has cemented its place as one of the nation’s most diverse collections of cars, motorbikes, trucks and buses, as well as a treasure trove of cultural memorabilia.

 

So much so that when Mercedes-Benz decided to celebrate our 140^th anniversary with a 50,000km global road trip visiting 140 destinations, MOVE was chosen as a special stop on the Australian leg of the tour, alongside Sydney Harbour, the Great Ocean Road and Byron Bay.

MOVE museum: a stop fit for automotive royalty

 

When three all new Mercedes-Benz S-Class vehicles rolled in to MOVE, they were greeted by a guard of honour courtesy of a silver 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Roadster and a black 1980s-era Mercedes-Benz C-Class Sedan – two among the approximately 100 vehicles currently resident at the museum.

 

It’s a continually evolving display, explains museum spokesman Marcus Cook. “Our cars are not owned by MOVE, they’re on loan, so we tend to turn them over,” he says. “We’ve currently got a couple of [actor] Shane Jacobsen’s early Holdens, which people seem really interested in.”

 

That’s just the beginning – there’s a truck pavilion, a Harley-Davidson collection, a display of classic buses, penny-farthing bicycles, Bathurst-winning racing cars, and even a separate section dedicated to the history of the Furphy water cart company and its Victorian founder, blacksmith John Furphy. There are also major displays of vintage clothing, jewellery and accessories, plus a collection of radios, telephones, gramophones and other memorabilia salvaged from a local television studio.

A memorable highlight from 2021 – when the museum was reopened following major renovations – was the car which took pride of place on the hero turntable just inside the main entrance: a stunning ‘fire engine red’ 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’.

“We also did a large exhibition where we pulled together a collection of about 20 of Street Machine magazine’s Cars of the Year from the mid-1990s, some really iconic cars,” Marcus says. “I think the line that was used was, ‘These are the cars we used to read about while sitting on the toilet at night’.

“A lot of guys built these show cars, took them on tour for 12 months to two years at the most, and then the cars sat in sheds for 20 years. So we were able to bring all of those out.”

An unlikely home in Shepparton, Victoria
 

Shepparton doesn’t seem a particularly obvious location for an automotive museum of national significance. Some 200km north of the nearest capital city, Melbourne, it’s also a bit of a detour off the Hume Freeway. Yet the greater Shepparton area also happens to be home to a range of thriving local industries, not to mention a passionate community of car enthusiasts and collectors.

 

“The idea came from a group of locals, both in the trucking and the car world, who wanted to create a space where they could tell and share the story of transport history and heritage in the region,” Marcus says. “There’s a really strong car culture, and that passion drove the idea as well.”

 

Discussions began in the early 2000s among locals including Jim Andreadis, a businessman and car enthusiast, and Lloyd Mawson, who owned the land and allowed the original museum to be constructed on it for a peppercorn lease, opening as the Shepparton Motor Museum in 2012. Lloyd later sold the land to Jim, who eventually gifted it to MOVE.

 

Following construction and redevelopment works, MOVE reopened in September 2021 and quickly became one of the area’s best attractions. The Bus & Coach Society of Victoria also raised around $1.2 million to contribute towards a dedicated bus pavilion

 

“We’re showing big shiny things that people like to look at, but it’s also about stories and emotions that link back to people’s childhoods,” Marcus says. “It’s the ‘I remember going to school on one of those’, ‘my dad drove one of those’, and ‘do you remember when Nana owned one of these?’ conversations. Those moments really create the visceral responses we se

“This nation was built on the back of the transport industry – whether that’s trucks, buses, cars, or automotive – and it's a story that’s worth capturing and telling. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever, so it’s important for us to retain it and share it for generations to come.”