A brief history and information about the Land Rover Owners Club of Gippsland.

By Greg Rose.

 

In August 1994 Ray Massaro, Dealer Principal of Massaro Motors, at that time the Gippsland Land Rover dealer, ran a social evening, at the Morwell Italian Australian Club, for all his existing Land Rover customers with a view to starting a four-wheel drive club. Those customers who received the invitation, had purchased a Range Rover, Discovery 1 or Defender from the dealership. The evening was followed up by an intensive driver training day in September, at the Anglesea driver training facility with Adrian DeJardin expert four-wheel drive driver trainer and Owen Peake from Land Rover instructing. Ray Massaro generously paid for the day. From these two events the Land Rover Owners Club of Gippsland was formed. The first meeting was held in the Massaro Motors showroom on the 3rd of October 1994. Frank O’Neill liaised with Ray Massaro in the formation of the club and was elected as the first president. Due to the Anglesea day, all those who joined the club at that meeting, had already completed driver training. Most members in the first twelve months of the club owned Discovery 1 vehicles. There were a few V8 petrol machines, but most were 200 Tdi diesels and then, with an update model, 300 Tdi diesels.

 

The club made application to join and was accepted to the peak body for recreational four-wheel driving, the Victorian Association of Four-Wheel Drive Clubs. That organization is now known as Four Wheel Drive Victoria and the club is still affiliated. There are approximately eighty clubs associated with Four Wheel Drive Victoria with a total membership of over five thousand. The association works closely with Victorian Government departments to ensure access to four wheel drive touring areas in the state and promotes responsible four wheel drive use. Among the benefits of affiliation is insurance cover for club sanctioned events.

 

The club’s focus from its inception has been that of a four wheel drive touring group with an emphasis on family participation and enjoying each other’s company and vehicles. Gradually club member numbers increased with many new members owning just about every model of Land Rover product, from early Series 1s to the latest machinery. Many members owned more than one Land Rover. This is still the case. Some of the children who went on club trips with their parents now have Land Rovers of their own. Although a Land Rover focused club enjoying “The Best 4x4 By Far”, as the Land Rover advertising slogan says, non-Land Rover owning people were always welcome to join and participate in club activities. Within the membership there is a wealth of experience and knowledge about Land Rovers, four-wheel driving techniques, camping, communication, navigation, towing, outback touring and vehicle setups.

 

The first club trip was a loop in the Avon River area in the foothills north of Maffra. Greg and Lois Rose (Life Members) were the leaders and nearly all club members attended. With the convoy of shiny new Range Rovers, one Defender and several Discoverys assembled in the main street of Maffra, a couple of local lads, clearly still suffering from overindulging the night before, exclaimed, “Geez, you must all be doctors driving those vehicles”. At the lunch spot, Huggetts Crossing on the Avon River, Ray Massaro (Life Member) provided some additional driver training focusing on river crossing techniques.

 

In the decades since that first trip there have been hundreds of club trips. Central Gippsland contains some of the best and most iconic, four wheel drive destinations in Australia. Club trips make the most of both the locality and local knowledge. A mix of day trips and base camp events is undertaken. Some of the past trips have visited, Walhalla, Woods Point, Wonnangatta Valley, Mayford, Crooked River Goldfields, Billy Goat Bluff Track, Mt Wellington, Lakes National Park, Blue Rag Range, Snowy River, Noojee, Omeo, South Gippsland hills, Croajingalong National Park, Dargo, and the Avon River.

 

Club members have run trips to more distant locations; Robe, the Yorke Peninsula, the Flinders Ranges and to Cooma in the Snowy Mountains for the 50th and 60th anniversaries of Land Rover, where hundreds of Land Rovers gathered. Regular weekends based at Dinner Plain run by Charlie Calafiore (Life Member) were a highlight of early years. The Melbourne Cup weekend is traditionally a base camp for members who travel to a different location each year, set up their caravans, camper trailers or tents and enjoy the surrounding tracks and tourist destinations. The club has attended and exhibited at the annual Victorian Four Wheel Drive Show. Members vehicles are also often displayed at motoring events in Gippsland.

 

Reports of trips and activities are featured in the Land Rover Owners Club of Gippsland Newsletter, distributed to all club members and available on the LROCG website. The Newsletter also has articles relating to the Land Rover world; history, new products and technical items.

 

For many years the Land Rover Owners Club of Gippsland has had close relationship with Parks Victoria Foothills and Southern Alps Team and engages in volunteer work in the Alpine National Park. On these, usually multi day events, club members camp in remote locations with Parks Victoria Rangers from the Heyfield and Dargo Work Centres. Club volunteers have worked at Wonnangatta Valley, Wellington River campsites, Kelly Lane, Talbotville, Grant, Eaglevale and historic sites including Howitt, Kellys, McMichaels, Guys, Moroka and Horseyard huts. Club members have replaced fences, constructed new fences, built picnic tables, made concrete fire rings, repaired Park assets, surveyed walking tracks, cleared 4x4 tracks, replaced visitor intensions books in huts and at trail heads, cut grass, plotted asset positions for insurance registers and undertaken plant surveys. Club members also volunteer their time as Camp Hosts at various locations throughout the state, during peak visitor times.

 

The social aspect of club membership is catered for with a dinner members can attend prior to each meeting. At the conclusion of the formal business of each meeting there is time for a tea, coffee or hot chocolate and plenty of conversation. In recent years club social activity has been further enhanced with a monthly coffee morning a fortnight on from meeting dates.

 

The club is unique in the level of support it receives from the Gippsland Land Rover dealer. From the formation of the club Massaro Motors provided a meeting location and covered all administrative costs. When the Gippsland Motor Group took over the dealership, thanks to Charlie Calafiore and the group management, the support continued. When the new Gippsland Land Rover showrooms were constructed in Traralgon the club moved with the dealership. Meetings are still held in the Land Rover showrooms, giving club members the opportunity to see the latest Defender, Discovery and Range Rover products.

 

There are many benefits of membership to the club.

  • Driver training is available through Four Wheel Drive Victoria and the club has qualified trainers as members.
  • Many members have extensive outback touring experience, which they are happy to share.
  • Within the membership there is a wealth of technical knowledge on Land Rovers old and new. Many members have more than one Land Rover product tucked in their sheds.
  • Members’ vehicles are fitted out with a wide range of equipment and the owners are happy to pass on advice about setting up vehicles and the pieces of gear that actually work.
  • Club trips and members’ local knowledge can open up a new set of places to safely enjoy your four wheel drive.
  • A monthly club newsletter keeps members up to date with club activities and the world of Land Rover.
  • Four Wheel Drive Victoria’s "Trackwatch" magazine, free to members, has news and articles specific to recreational four wheel driving in Victoria.
  • The club has a selection of recovery equipment available for members use.