Vintage Cadbury vehicle arrives at new home
MANY weeks of uncertainty ended positively yesterday when Dunedin Fire Brigade Restoration Society members took delivery of a former Model TT delivery truck, previously part of the city’s Cadbury factory collection.
Society president Joe Hayde said yesterday’s ‘‘fantastic’’ out come had also included five van, truck or trailer loads of other valuable Cadbury material, including mechanical puppets, memorabilia and display cases.
The society had earlier spoken out in favour of the three veteran Cadbury vehicles being retained in Dunedin, as part of the city’s heritage.
Mondelez Australia Pty Ltd subsequently announced that a veteran truck and a milk tanker were going to the Bill Richardson Transport World museum in Invercargill, where they will be displayed surrounded by other Cadbury memorabilia.
It is intended to display the delivery truck, from the 1920s, at a planned transport museum, which seems likely to open in Dunedin next year.
Mr Hayde yesterday praised Mondelez’s response, and said the outcome vindicated the society’s bid to help safeguard the vehicles, despite the society’s traditional focus on fire appliances.
The society had not been trying to retain the three vehicles for itself, but to protect them in the interests of Otago and Dunedin heritage.