These days you take kids anywhere and they’ll have their face glued down at their screens, completely disconnected from the world around them.
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But on February 7 and 8 at the Darnum Heritage Display, event organiser Peter Farley noticed this was far from the case.
“None of the kids had an iPhone or iPad in their hand,” he says. “They were actually getting involved, looking around and asking questions.”
And I don’t blame them, with 170 gleaming trucks to look at of all various sizes and ages, why would they be looking at a screen?
And the heritage display has now found a new place to call home.
“Our new facility is home to the truck club,” Peter says. “It’s about 12 acres, so we decided to do some earthworks and make it happen.”
“This is our new home, so we’re not moving from here. It’s like a fresh start for us.”
And what a start it was.
Darnum roared to life with reminders of the past with vehicles required to be over 25 years or over.
There were 80 historic cars, five bulldozers and old military vehicles standing for attention. There was dairy equipment, a proud 70 tractors lined up alongside chuffing stationary engines; even a plane replica.
By the end of it, more than 1,500 people had come through the gates.
“I’ve been trying to think of the right word for it all,” Peter says. “But it was just mind boggling.”
That Friday night set the tone. Around 100 vehicles rolled in before the weekend had even properly begun.
“Friday was a bit overwhelming. The weather was perfect which is critical to the turn out of the event, so we were nervous about how big this display was going to be.”
Among the trucks, there were the usual showstoppers – immaculate restorations where no expense had been spared – but Peter lit up when he spoke about one particular Bedford.
“It had never been restored. It was all original,” he says. “It doesn’t look like it’s worked a day.”
Saturday night brought 184 people together for dinner, catered by Peter’s wife and her friends. Around the tables sat men and women whose lives had been shaped by machinery, transport and hard work. Some were in their 90s.
“We had people there who have driven trucks since the 50s,” Peter says. “The stories that start coming out, and the laughing and joking – they were acting 35, not 90. They haven’t changed; it’s just their bodies that have gotten a bit older.”
Moments like these are why the Darnum Heritage Display matters.
“It’s such a good feeling to bring this event together and actually pull it off, to actually see everyone enjoy their heritage is great,” he says.
The trucks are close to his heart, but this event reaches far beyond transport enthusiasts. It spills into the town itself.
The local football club ran the bar, the local Lions handled food during the day and the shops were buzzing.
Major support from Community Bank Drouin and District helped make it all possible, alongside Dixon’s Transport Insurance – both backing the event in a big way to keep the wheels turning.
“They tipped a fair bit of money into us to keep things happening,” Peter says.
By the end of the weekend, the engines quietened and the trucks eased out the gates, with the dust finally settling over the 12 acres that for one weekend, had become one big transport museum.
And if this says anything about Darnum, is that it’s only going to get bigger.
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