Daily Telegraph recreating iconic 1920s global roadtrip

The Daily Telegraph’s cartoonist Warren Brown and Editor-At-Large Matthew Benns will update readers in real time as they follow the 26,000km London to Melbourne route taken by Aussie adventurer Francis Birtles in 1927.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has launched the countdown to the recreation of one of Australia’s most epic drives from London to Melbourne in a vintage 1925 car.

The Daily Telegraph’s cartoonist Warren Brown and Editor-At-Large Matthew Benns will update readers in real time as they follow the 26,000 kilometre route taken by Aussie adventurer Francis Birtles in 1927.

“You’re standing on the shoulders of the nearly century old embodiment of what is absolutely the Australian spirit: larrikinism, a sense of adventure, and ingenuity,” Mr Minns told a gathering of dignitaries including ambassadors and consul generals from many of the countries the journey will traverse.

Tuesday’s launch was held at the Royal Automobile Club in Macquarie Street, the very place where The Daily Telegraph’s then Editor-At-Large Malcolm Ellis conceived Birtles’ iconic journey.

The adventurer was waved off from the Strand in London in his Bean 14 motor car by Miss Australia 1927 Phyllis Von Alwyn.

Daily Telegraph cartoonist Warren Brown, Ms Australia Monique Riley and Daily Telegraph Editor-At-Large Matthew Benns ahead of their big adventure. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Miss Universe Australia 2022 Monique Riley was at the RAC in Sydney yesterday with the 1925 Bean motor car The Tele team will drive across the world.

“I know Miss Australia 1927 Phyllis Von Alwyn was in London for the launch of the original trip and it is fantastic to be here today to start the boys on their journey,” she said.

“Hopefully I can make it to London in September to wave them on their way.”

The epic adventure, which begins in September 2024 and is expected to take at least three months, is being sponsored by Australian petrol company Ampol.

Warren Brown and Matthew Benns are looking forward to their big adventure. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Ampol Managing Director and CEO Matt Halliday said the company was delighted to back a great Aussie adventure.

“The recreation of the 1925 Bean Fourteen’s journey is a celebration of Australia’s incredible motoring history. The nostalgia of this adventure draws parallels to Ampol’s own rich history, as the enabler of the great Australian journey, of which this trip epitomises,” he said.

The trip will raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which has strong links with Birtles who visited the service headquarters as he drove through Australia.

Daily Telegraph editor, Ben English, Matthew Halliday MD and CEO of Ampol, Warren Brown, Monique Riley, Matthew Benns and Cameron Gibbs from the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Cameron Gibbs, Chief Pilot and Head of Flight Operations for the Royal Flying Doctor Service said the epic drive encapsulated the pioneering spirit of the service as well as raising badly needed funds.

“We are very appreciative that the Birtles and the Bean team, News Corp and Ampol, have chosen to support the Royal Flying Doctor Service throughout this amazing journey. The inaugural flight of what was then known as the Australian Aerial Medical Service was out of Cloncurry in 1928. Cloncurry also happened to be one of the stops Francis Birtles made as part of his round the world trip around this same time,” he said.

The boys are on. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Mr Brown said he had been planning to follow in Birtles footsteps for years.

“I’m just itching to fire up our century old car and hit the road,” he said.

“It is such a fantastic story of drama and high adventure and we will be telling this long forgotten story to readers in real time.”

Mr Benns said the back up team of mechanic Tony Jordan and documentary maker Stuart Duncan would be vital to keep the Bean on the road and recording its mishaps.

“The real question will be who runs out of dad jokes first, me or Warren,” he said.