It was the winter of 1925 when two young Adventist missionaries, Nevill Westwood and Greg Davies, took off on an ambitious and unexpected adventure. The two twenty-one-year-olds were setting off from Perth in ‘Bubsie’, a tiny secondhand Citroën with less horsepower than a modern-day lawn mower. Their destination was Darwin – an overland journey of 4,000 kilometres. North of Meekatharra, a town in the Mid-West region of Western Australia, their journey was unmapped, with no serviced roads and minimal fuel stations. The pair leaned on each other, as well as stockmen, station managers, and Indigenous families they encountered along the way. Each of these communities imparted their knowledge of the areas and helped the boys forge ahead.
Reaching Darwin was its own victory, but they were inspired to continue east, which led to them completing the first lap of Australia. This trip secured Bubsie a spot in the National Museum, with the journey making Australian motoring history.
The recently released book Bubsie and the Boys by David Riley chronicles the journey of faith and adventure around the continent. David was inspired to pen the story when he was on his own family road trip circling Australia. They were a couple of months into their two-year adventure on the road when an old friend shared the story of Bubsie with him. “Nick had worked at Carmel College - the school where the two young missionaries first met. When Nick told me of the story of Bubsie as the first car to circle Australia (the very adventure my family were on almost a century later) I was immediately drawn to it,” explains David. “I looked for a book that had been written about the Bubsie story - even calling the Citroen car clubs to track something down - and discovered nothing had been written. One of the Citroen club presidents then suggested maybe I should write something.”
The great Australian dream of road tripping around the country is revered not just by Australians but by people around the globe. Red dirt, crystal clear waters, our unique wildlife and a storied history of Indigenous culture; it’s the ultimate adventure. “Thousands of people do it every year, hundreds of thousands have done it already, and many more hope to do it one day. The origins of this great road adventure lie in Adventist mission. That’s incredible,” says David.
David was able to drive most of the original route Bubsie and the boys took in 2022, then completed it in 2024. It took him across beautiful and remote country that is seldom driven today, and many cattle and sheep stations. David recounts, “On one visit to a former sheep station in Western Australia, when I spoke to the Aboriginal elder there, I told him about my research for the book and plans to re-enact the drive in the same model car. When I finished talking, he replied with a smile: “So you’re telling me you Adventist mob came past this place a hundred years ago, and now you’re still bothering us!””
This year the Riley family lost their daughter, Jessica, to a brief battle with brain cancer. Their faith is something that holds them together in their grief, “While we deeply miss Jessica’s presence every day, we know we grieve with hope - a wonderful hope that we shall see her again one day.” During Jessica’s diagnosis, they discovered that her and David share a rare syndrome making them 150 times more likely to develop cancer than the average person. Now David is battling his own diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer. “Our memories as a family of our travels together around Australia are so much more special now Jess is gone, but I hold onto the hope we have that we will travel together again in the life to come,” he shares.
The Riley family’s time on the road parallels that of Bubsie and the boys, both steeped in adventure and faith, and now remembered for a lifetime. What does David hope people take from the story of Bubsie and the boys?
“I’m hoping people enjoy learning about an incredible story from Australia’s past. I’m hoping the story inspires people to explore and travel this wonderful country of ours. I’m hoping it reminds readers of the importance of resilience, perseverance, and courage. I’m hoping the story allows people to reflect on their own faith in a higher power - and as a result live life more adventurously.”
Bubsie and the Boys by David Riley is published by Signs Publishing and distributed by Simon and Schuster.