photo #8642394

Australian 'billycarts' were used as early as the 1880s. They were either literally drawn by a billygoat - hence the Australian name 'billycart'- or small two wheeled hand carts for which the name billycart had already become a generic term. The term billycart is an Australian variation of the English goat cart which, like the dog cart, was originally an 18th and 19th century form of animal-propelled baby carriage. A later development - the mail cart - was a two wheeled vehicle based upon the postal delivery cart but designed to be pulled by children as a play thing. The British firm Simpson, Fawcett and Co advertised these in 1870 emphasising their exercise value. Harnessed goats were also used in a variation of this two wheeled cart - again using the term goat cart or 'go-cart'. These could still be seen providing rides on English beaches in the 1930s. The mail cart, which could hold a young child, was also a precursor to the modern pram (Jack Hampshire, 'Prams, Mail Carts and Bassinets', 1980, pp.24,34). Anthony Hordern and Sons Ltd was advertising billycarts in Australia in the 1920s - these were essentially the two wheeled mailcarts of the late 19th century. However it was around this time or a little later that the 'modern' billycart developed as a fruit box with wheels or the more sophisticated H-shaped frame with rope controlled steering. These were probably home-made versions of commercially produced - and hence relatively expensive - pedal cars, trolley cars or flivvers (a 3 wheeled version of the hand-propelled trolley car). In the absence of pedals or hand cranks, these were pushed or ridden down hill. In his 1952 memoir, Sydney bookseller James Tyrrell remembered as a boy using a 'billycart', or what was probably a form of mailcart cart/goat cart without the goat, to deliver books for Angus and Robertson (J.R Tyrrell, 'Old Books, old friends, old Sydney Billycart, wood/metal/rubber, Australia, 1950-1970. The chassis of this billycart is made from wood. A plank forms the central axis. A wooden crate, cut down to four sides, forms the cabin and seat. A brown hessian bag has been draped over the back of this crate. Stuck on the left side of the crate is a piece of paper with the inscription; '3" 162 S/G FILE/H'. At the rear is a black metal number plate 'AB 48'. The front and rear metal axles are attached to wooden planks. The rear is fixed the front pivoted with a bolt to enable steering. A length of 'steering' rope has been attached to this front wooden axle plank. There are four metal rimmed spoked wheels. The front wheels have solid rubber tyres, the rear wheels have no tyres.