Marion Bell (motorist)

Early and personal life

Marion Bell was born on 18 November 1891 in Okaihau, Northland, New Zealand, to Ernest Chaffey and Marion Williams. Growing up in a remote area, she became a skilled bush woman, horse rider, and later mechanic. At age ten, she took one of her father's racehorses and rode nearly 600 km to visit her grandmother, covering 430 km before the horse tired and sheltering in a Maori hut. As a young woman, she rode the full length of the South Island and travelled through the South Sea Islands and the Americas.

After moving to Australia, she ran a furrier's business in Sydney and later a charabanc business in Fremantle. In 1929, she and her second husband bought the Fremantle Taxi Service, reforming it and hiring ambulance officers with first aid training. She married William Robert Sinclair in 1921; he died in August 1922. Later that year she remarried to Thomas Henry ‘Norman’ Bell. She had two children: daughter Marion in 1913 and son Cedric Cecil in 1914.

Motor tour around Australia

In 1925, as driving around the country became a popular challenge, Marion Bell declared she would motor across Australia. On October 14, she left Fremantle Town Hall in an Oldsmobile Six backed by the Vulcan Oil Company, with her eleven-year-old daughter beside her. Over five months, they covered more than 19,000 kilometers, visiting small settlements and cattle stations along the northwest coast and crossing the Top End before the wet season halted them.

After nearly two months, they hit the northeastern coast and traveled through Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Bell pushed herself, driving both day and night to hit her targets, earning the nickname ‘The Wonder Woman’ from some. Local papers covered her trip, and her car was displayed in Oldsmobile showrooms in major cities when she paused. She returned to Perth on April 7, 1926, making her the first woman and only the third person to drive around Australia.

A big welcome awaited her, with film crews, speeches, and a packed press conference. Adventurer Aidan de Brune praised her feat. Her daughter helped by noting speedometer readings, topping up the radiator, checking tire pressure, and opening hundreds of gates along the way.