38 years, not out

Words: Rachael Doherty

September 1970, Australian Caravan World laid rightful claim to being "Australia's newest magazine for caravanners and outdoor enthusiasts".

Founding editor Gwen Hasler, formally of Motor Manual, launched the title as Recreational Travel. On witnessing Gwen's success with the magazine, David Syme & Co. took on its subscribers and had the title rebadged.

"When it started it was 30 cents. I just didn't know if people would be prepared to pay it!" laughs Gwen. "Mind you, it was black and white and only 42 pages."

According to Gwen, the caravanning industry was in the midst of change. A move from marine ply to sandwich panel construction saw caravan prices plummet to $1000. Families could, for the first time, tow a van with a standard six-cylinder car.

The inaugural issue featured Gwen's glowing report on the "seamless" and entirely premoulded fibreglass Expandavan. Annexes were declared in, and 1970, the year of the snowtime boom. A review of the Tandem revealed the now dissolved Viscount was "by far" the biggest seller of vans "in this country".

WINDS OF CHANGE
In December 1979, there were pin-striped vans aplenty. CW was spread across 96 two-spot colour news print pages and a four-page glorious full-colour centrefold.

An insert, Australian TrailBlazer, covered all things 4WD, a subscription ad for CB Action seemed hard to resist, Around the Parks cheerfully opened with editorial spruiking Bonnie Doon's Lakeside Caravan Park, Vic, and manufacturers were testing new markets with mobile homes.

Five years later, a modest sized April 1984 issue of CW brimmed with reader content. Ashley Holmes instructed vanners to build draws into bed bases, Peter Dudley attested to the quality of the roads along the Nullarbor, and Charles McGlashan devised strategies for preventing corner stabilisers from sinking in sand. Doreen Chamberlain, regular columnist, provided light relief in Laughter in the Parks.

In December 1989, Joan Green took over from Gwen Haslar as editor, and four years later she delighted in announcing CW's full colour editorial pages.

Readers of CW will recognise many of the names featured in CW November 1993: Steve Farmer; Pamela and Gordon May; Lloyd Junor; Lionel Mussell, to name a few.

Throughout the 1990s, CW readers were treated to new supplements: quarterly Easy Living Homes, February 1994; Outdoor Life, October 1995.

Parent company Syme Magazines, as it was then known, was acquired by ACP.

ROOM TO MOVE
In 2001, as the caravanning industry continued to gain momentum, changes instigated by ACP headquarters were in effect. Several ACP Men's Lifestyle titles had moved from Melbourne to Sydney, and CW was earmarked to follow. With so much caravan manufacturing happening in Vic, the decision was revoked: CW joined ACP's Trader International Group, to stand as the division's sole editorial publication.

By March 2002, CW had departed from its traditional method of saddle stitch construction (staples down the side) to perfect bound, accommodating reader classifieds at the back.

Twelve months later, March 2003, incoming editor Ros Bromwich was charged with building the CW stable of titles that existed then, and Caravan World Yearbook, Motorhome World, and Campertrailer Australia followed.

In her maiden issue of CW, Ros welcomed Malcolm Street to the team, and shared her own report on the red centre. Intrepid photographer Colin Kerr shared tips on creating photographic sequences.

The 400th issue of CW rolled onto the stands in December 2003. The event was marked with a redesign that readers could 'unveil' themselves by removing the original cover. The classifieds were removed and the dimensions of the publication increased.

In October 2004, blue prints for CW's sister production, Discover Downunder (DDU), were drawn up. The first episode in a series of eight was shown on Australian TV in April 2005, and by the middle of the year, a sampling of DDU editorial was found across CW's pages.

CW's relationship with DDU has since grown, and in September 2007, a copy of series one was bundled with CW at the newstands.

HERE'S TO THE FUTURE
450 issues in, and CW is still going strong. We extend a big thank you to our dedicated readers, our valued contributors and the many other hands that have shaped CW into what it is today.