Time to Roam Magazine Issue 5 - October/November 2013 | Page 22

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features classic caravans

Above: A ribbon being affixed to the Propert display at the ‘Australian World Fair’ – believed to be in the 1950s.  Note the folding caravans, both open
and shut in the background.  The rare ‘non folding’ Propert caravan is very similar to the ‘Pink Propert’ that has drawn great admiration at the National
Museum of Australia  (below)  

taken out in New Zealand, US and England.
Other folding caravans built in Australia at the
time include the “Smal-a-Van” made in Unley,
South Australia and the “Foldvan” by C.T.
Woods of West Preston, Victoria.
Thomas Propert Senior passed away in 1969
and production continued in Vaucluse until

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1972 – the folding caravan era coming to an
end just as the pop top caravan age had begun.
It is testament to the Propert family’s
record of great Australian design that Propert
caravans are today part of the collections of
both the National Museum of Australia and
the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.