Geoff Meredith, Racing Car Driver

Windellama was once the home of racing car driver Geoffrey Charles Meredith. He lived at Buburba, Windellama for a time around 1925-27 where besides being a racing car driver he was a grazier.


Geoff Meredith in his 'Bugatti' at Maroubra

 Geoff Meredith owned several French “Bugatti” sports and racing cars. At one stage he drove a Brescia Bugatti on Gerringong beach at 100 m.p.h. and also drove on the old Maroubra speedway in Sydney in 1925-26.

He does not seem to have been at Windellama for very long as he only appears there in the 1926 electoral roll. During his time at Windellama he was visited by other notable racing drivers such as Hope Bartlett, Albert Vaughan, Leo Salmon and Phil Garlick.

In 1926 he was elected Vice President of the Goulburn Motor Club. Meredith raced extensively at Penrith and Maroubra speedways with limited success and he even turned his hand to motorcycle racing.

Goulburn hosted the Australian Grand Prix in January 1927 at the Racecourse. Geoff Meredith raced his type 30 straight 8 Bugatti at this event which he won with his friend Hope Bartlett second.

I can remember my late mother speaking of Geoff Meredith and his Bugatti car and also of Salmon and Vaughan. She probably met them when they visited the district.

Later in 1927 Geoff went to New Zealand and raced his car on Muriwal beach without much success. He went to England in 1928 to manage a team of Australian motorcyclists who were trying to interest the English in the new sport of dirt track speedway.

Not having been in England very long he went to the Isle of Man to view the motorcycle races but contracted pneumonia and died in Nobel’s General Hospital in Douglas, Isle of Man on 13 June 1928.

He was buried in the Borough Cemetery, Douglas, Isle of Man.

References:

Electoral Rolls.
Papers of my late mother.
One For The Road. Jack Pollard.
Goulburn Evening Penny Post.
Sydney Morning Herald.

Story by Tom Bryant 14 November 2006


Do you have a family member who was involved in the Australian Grand Prix of 1927 in Goulburn?  Please share their memories.