I’m not sure there’s anything more quintessentially Australian than a man and his shed. But Bob’s Shed is no ordinary shed, it’s not a place to merely tinker and escape the wife. It’s a snapshot of the past, both daily life in Australia and motorsport history. Bob clearly has a passion for any Peter Brock memorabilia with an entire room dedicated to the car racing champion.
Bob’s collection is vast, organised and displayed beautifully. It’s hard to know where to look first, so what I thought would be a quick stop turned into a much longer stay . I had expected something smaller and to be honest. I thought Hubby and BJ would be the ones most interested because of the car racing displays.
But walking into the General Store was a trip down memory lane for me. Perhaps showing my age, I spied many items from my childhood on the shelves. Fancy items from my childhood now being preserved as part of Australia’s history. Yikes!
The General Store is a retrospective look at a time when ads told people to have “a Bex and a good lie down” and the Marlboro man was smoking his way to coolness not death.
It was a time when juice came in tins, soap came in cardboard packaging, companies had beautiful logos and plastic was not everywhere. Yep, this store is a wonderful representation of a lost era. Some good and some we now know better about, like Bex causing kidney damage and smoking causes cancer.
Leaving the General Store we headed into the Railway Hotel which has a range of historic pub items displayed and includes an impressive range of beers from around the world. It’s a look don’t drink experience but still a fun one.
From the Railway Hotel we walked on to the Mechanics Garage which has an original Ampol Petrol Bowser, a 1950 Vanguard Utility and Ampol Sign.
While the General Store was my thing, the boys loved the cars and motor bikes on display. Despite having 12 motorbikes in his collection, Bob apparently has never ridden a motorbike.
One of the cars on display is a replica of one of Peter Brock’s 1985 Mobil Holden Dealer Racing Commodore.
In the room known as Peter Brocks World, the walls are lined with commemorative plates, car magazines featuring Brock, model racing cars and anything else bearing Brock’s image.
It’s not all cars though, we found two displays of rail memorabilia with the model trains being BJ’s favourite.
Long before Sydney’s rail system had the tap on tap off Opal Card system these rail tickets were the go.
ACCESSIBILITY
The collection is literally housed in a massive shed at the back of a property. There’s access to the shed via a driveway, and on checking you are able to park on the concrete for easy access (the main parking area is gravel).
Doorways are standard size and would be tight or inaccessible with a big power chair.
A small step or lip is at the entrance to the general store and pub. We had no problem with BJ’s manual chair but a heavier wheelchair user may find it more difficult to bump over the edge.
We stopped at Bob’s Shed on a road trip to Tamworth and it was a thoroughly enjoyable way of breaking up the last part of our journey. It is only about 45 minutes from Tamworth so also a possible outing for those staying in Tamworth.
And if you visit Bob’s Shed, make sure you take a look at Who’d A Thought It Lookout. The views are stunning and the name certainly had us all laughing.
You can read more about Bob’s Shed on their Facebook page.
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