Reg Ansett - Early Career

Early Career

Reginald Myles Ansett was born at Inglewood, Victoria, on 13 February 1909. His father owned a garage before World War I when he enlisted in the AIF. After the war, Ansett's father established a knitting factory in Camberwell and Ansett gained qualifications as a knitting-machine mechanic at Swinburne Technical College. He was an enthusiastic private pilot, having obtained his licence in 1926 (No. 419).

However, Ansett went north to work as an axeman in a Northern Territory survey team. For a time he entertained the idea of buying land in the territory to grow peanuts. He found himself unemployed when the Commonwealth government cut off the funds for the survey. On returning to Victoria in December 1931, with his savings he purchased a second-hand Studebaker and began a service car operation between Ballarat and Maryborough carrying passengers and small items of freight. When this proved uneconomic, he switched the Ansett Motors operation to a Ballarat to Hamilton service. The wealthy graziers of Victoria's western district proved to be a much better market. Within a few years he had a small fleet of service cars operating to towns in western Victoria.