Jim and the Waratahs
Waratah. Brilliant name, for an Australian made motorbike, derived from the floral emblem of the state of NSW.
A name most blokes wouldn’t associate with what were probably the most successful production bikes to be built here, from before 1910 to 1948. The initial company umbrella was the Canada Motorcycle and Motor Agency based in George Street, Sydney, their lightweight machines assembled from imported components. Although early machines were fitted with German Fafnir engines, by 1911 they were marketing a 4.5hp model, switching to English Villiers power in 1915, after the company was purchased by the Williams family. Assembled with Burman gearboxes, Sun frame components and either Druid or Brampton forks, advertising stated that their two strokes would travel 105 miles on one penny’s worth of fuel. They competed for sales against other Oz manufacturers, Acme, Tilbrook and Bennett and Barkell among others.
In October, 2000, Jim McIntyre was searching through useful stuff at a swap meet, when he came across “A little pile of junk. I didn’t know what was there. I walked away and went back three times, before I finally bought it”. ‘It’ was the remains of a 1935 125 Waratah and 15 years of hard yakka restoration later, where he had to search Australia for scarce missing parts, his really rare 125 is now a stand and stare show magnet. A panel beater by trade, Jim found a good fuel tank from a dealer in Victoria and the Waratah Decals for that came from Tasmania. It is a very basic machine, with a skinny lightweight single tube frame, girder front forks, saddle seating, rigid heel and minimal lighting. And the small 9D Villiers engine with the three-speed, hand shift Burman box almost looks lost in all that frame space. Jim reckons no two bikes from the factory came out the same, as they were assembled from whatever parts they had on the shelves. He has three spare engines and a couple of gearboxes and a while back now, picked up another 1938 Waratah. Not much larger than the 125, and still being restored, this machine is a Villiers Mark XV1A powered 250. And already Jim’s standard of finish evident in his superb 125 is being applied to this 250, although he is still a bit crabby at a good mate, for losing all the gears out of the gearbox!.