Bean Team welcomed by Miss Universe Australia and Premier on arrival in Sydney

In 1927 the then Miss Australia waved Francis Birtles off on his adventure from London. On Sunday, the current Miss Universe Australia and Premier Chris Minns welcomed the Bean Team, Matthew Benns and Warren Brown back to Sydney.

Premier Chris Minns welcomed The Daily Telegraph’s team Bean back to Sydney on Sunday after an epic 20,000 km adventure spanning twenty countries and four continents.

Mr Minns was joined by Miss Universe Australia Zoe Creed at Government House in Macquarie Street just over a year after he officially launched the mammoth fundraising road trip.

Bean co-drivers cartoonist Warren Brown and Editor-at-large Matthew Benns rolled the 1925 red roadster onto the forecourt of Government House almost three weeks after leaving Darwin for a challenging drive through baking heat, red dust roads and monsoonal rains.

“I saw Warren was determined when we launched but you had a bit of trepidation,” Mr Minns said to Benns. “I am amazed you are here.

“I followed the journey on the website the whole way through. It is a really great Australian achievement – I am really proud of you both,” he said.

“It is also a reminder of just how far Australia is from the rest of the world.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns signed the 1924 Bean. Picture: Richard Dobson

The recreation of Aussie adventurer Francis Birtles 1927 drive from London to Melbourne in the same model Bean 14 car began in London in September with a send-off from Australia House in The Strand by Miss England Milla Magee.

On Sunday in Sydney Miss Creed, the current Miss Universe Australia, was on hand to welcome the team to their home turf ahead of the final leg to Melbourne.

Matthew Benns, Miss Australia Zoe Creed, NSW Premier Chris Minns and Daily Telegraph cartoonist Warren Brown with the 1924 Bean which has driven from London to Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

“There is a historical precedent for me being here because in 1927 then Miss Australia Phyllis Von Alwyn waved Francis Birtles off on his adventure from London,” Miss Creed said. “This is really closing the circle.

“This is such a cool experience,” she said. “I have only seen the car on video and to see it in person shows just how much of an adventure this must have been.”

The drive took the team through Europe, over the Alps, into Greece and across the Mediterranean to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and on to Singapore and Darwin.

Along the way it has raised more than $120,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service – Australia’s most trusted charity – and began with a letter of support from the Service’s UK patron King Charles.

Once in Australia the Bean team has been stopped by people in the street who have handed over $50 notes and told their own stories of how the quietly spoken heroes of the RFDS have altered their lives.

Daily Telegraph journalist Matthew Benns, Miss Australia Zoe Creed and Daily Telegraph cartoonist Warren Brown with the 1924 Bean. Picture: Richard Dobson

In the Queensland town of Tambo mayor Wendy Taylor told how her daughter Nicole flipped off a quad bike 20 years ago and was injured so badly she believed “I would be feeding her through a tube” for the rest of her life.

“The RFDS saved her,” Ms Taylor said. “Now she is a healthy 32-year-old mother of two. She would not be here without them.”

The Bean will now head to Goulburn, on to Canberra and through to Albury before arriving at the steps of the Melbourne GPO on Friday where Birtles finished his journey almost 100 years ago.

Along the way they will be collecting donations in tins for the RFDS and accepting donations at:

Royal Flying Doctor Service – Birtles and the Bean fundraising for the Flying Doctor (doyourthing.org.au).

Originally published as Bean Team welcomed by Miss Universe Australia and Premier on arrival in Sydney