Norm White was young, enthusiastic and gullible when he spent his first weekend at the helm of father Les's picnic bus ... a Bedford truck.
"I took a group of footballers to Gordon and we had a ball. But when we got into the bus at 6 pm on the Sunday there were two missing," he recalled.
"The blokes said they were down the pub and I could pick 'em up on the way. I pulled up outside, and the next thing you know the bus is empty, they'd bluffed me," Mr White chuckled.

He was only 18 then. Now, 29 years later, he runs White's furniture removal business on weekdays in what (he claims) double's as the "World's only two registered picnic buses" on weekends.

Les White (left) and his son Norm. 50 years of running picnic buses from Footscray and Yarraville

His father Les who started a furniture removal business in Footscray 54 years ago, can remember when Australia had 480 registered picnic buses. He was 22 when he decided to follow the lead of most other truck owners and convert his truck to a passenger bus. "We used to drive with the tailboard hanging and we even had a seat attached to it," he said. "We'd often head up to Warrandyte or Eltham which was the country in those days".
The Whites truck/buses are both Bedfords, one 26-year-old and in near mint condition, with its original motor. "It takes a lot of time and effort to look after the buses when we cart furniture in them during the week," Norm White said. Like any commercial passenger vehicles, we have to take them in for an inspection every 12 months "And they (inspectors) are mean, they go over them from "bull-bar to tailboard," his father added.

Resembling normal furniture vans, apart from the windows, the Bedford buses are converted each Friday night. Out go the trolleys and ropes and in go the seats. Two benches line the outside walls, and two sit back to back down the centre. This is a more comfortable seating arrangement than in a normal bus, because there's more legroom. And the old Bedfords hold just as many people, 43 passengers in one, and 41 in the other.

Les White's first picnic/furniture truck... a 1931 Fargo.

Les White gained his picnic bus licence four years after starting out on the picnic trail, which makes this year (1986) the official 50th anniversary of White's Picnic buses. For the past 25 years he and his son Norm have transported the Victorian Youth Hostels Bushwalking Group to most of its destinations. Normally I just take them up into the hills, drop them off and then drive around and pick them up at the other side," Norm White said. "I used to do the day walks with them, but I'm past that," the 47-years-old Yarraville resident said.

One of the best trips he had with the bushwalking club was to Mount Stirling.
"I was taking them to the top of the mountain but it snowed so heavy we got stuck. I couldn't turn the bus round so the 40 of them just got out, picked up the tail of the bus and spun me round on top of the snow," he recalled. "They decided to walk from there and I headed off down the mountain, picking them up at the bottom a couple of days later," Mr White said.
"Another time I tried to cross a dry creek bed at night but got marooned. The back wheels were off the ground because the chassis got jammed on the bank,"

"I felt sorry for some of the bushwalkers though, at times. A lot of them were search and rescue guys and I'd be picking them up after a hard five day walk, only to have a police car pull alongside wanting half-a-dozen of them to go and search for the lost person. "They'd go even though they were stuffed and wouldn't get back to Melbourne for a week," he said.

Les White, now 76 also has fond memories of the trips he ceased going on only six years ago. He used to love the Easter (five days) and Christmas (10 days) trips. The 1938 Christmas trip was an experience to remember. Les and his passengers got caught up in the Woods Point bushfires. They had to push smouldering logs off the road to get through.
"We went to the pub at Erica to have a drink, but it had burnt down, Just a smouldering heap," he reminisced. They finally made it through the ravaged terrain to continue their trip to Walhalla, Yallourn and around South Gippsland

The 10-day trips were "the ultimate" according to Mr White senior. But his son Norm is too busy shifting furniture these days to have time for them. "Dad used to complain about never getting holidays, but he was off on these trips all the time" he said. He seldom took his wife Florence with him.
"He did take mum once on a day trip but it was for the Melbourne 'Women Walkers' Group and they all got cheesed off with him," his son said.

Born in Flemington Les White moved to Footscray in 1939. He lives in Walden Street, West Footscray. Living close to Newmarket and the Showgrounds, he had a lot to do with cattle in his younger days.
"We used to go to the Showgrounds and lead the bulls around the arena while they were being judged," he recalled. "We got two bob for each one we took out, but there were heaps of kids queuing to get a go at leading them out. "So me and a mate used to forget about the queue and just jump straight into the truck and grab a cow."It was good money then" Mr White said.

His son Norm also remembers his childhood ... and going on his first picnic trip when he was two. He now has four children of his own, all of whom are active in the scouts.
His wife Pat is group leader of the 5th Footscray Scouts, with her son Gerard helping her out. Eldest son David is leader of a cub pack and youngest son Mathew is helping his cousin Paul lead a Venturers troop, of which Norm's daughter Janine is a member.

And back to that footy trip we spoke of earlier on, the finale was that Norm got the footballers out of the pub about 10 pm and planted his foot on the accelerator. He had alerted his father to stand by at home, ready to call the police. But he had to stop to let the brakes cool down.
"They gave me so much of a canning for wasting time," he said.
These days, Norm White would probably leave the footballers at the pub to find their own way back. And that would be another story to tell.

EDITOR'S NOTE: White's finally succumbed to safety regulations and stopped operating as picnic buses in 2001