CRAIG WATSON PAGES

MY GARAGE

■ Craig on his Mini Moke. Picture: Ivan Kemp

Still life in Mini-ature

Long-time photographer Craig Watson shares four decades of adventure and his love of all things Mini with LUKE VOOGT.

One look at Craig Watson’s garage and it’s obvious he has a certain type.

“Small and with a Mini engine in it,” he confirms.

The only surviving Austin Ant in Australia, according to Craig, is the most remarkable item of his collection in his Leopold garage.

BMC cancelled production of the Austin Ant in 1968 after the manufacturer became part of the British Leyland conglomerate, which considered the model too close a competitor for the Land Rover range.

“They built 25,” Craig says.

“Two came to Australia and in 1974 one was cut up and sold for scrap.”

Craig discovered the one-of-a-kind car working as a photojournalist for an auto magazine.

“About 15 years ago I was interviewing a person who worked at the BMC factory,” he recalls.

“He said, ‘you’ve got to come out to the garage and have a look at my toy’.

“He pulled the tarp off the car and I said, ‘that’s an Austin Ant!’

“He said, ‘you are the first person ever to look at it and know exactly what it is!’ He said he was never going to sell it. He never had it running, it just sat on bricks for 30 years.”

But a decade later, the man phoned Craig out of the blue and asked: “are you still interested in the Ant?”

“And I said, ‘hell yeah!’ I had to think about it for all of half a second,” he says.

“There were a couple of parts in the back that came with it. All I’ve done is worked out what goes on the car – because a lot didn’t – and bolted it on.

“And I’ve given it a thorough clean too – it definitely needed a clean. It looks complete but it still doesn’t run.”

But Craig admits his love of all things Mini began with an imposter.

“My first car was Honda Scamp – it was Honda’s attempt at building something like a Mini,” he says.

“Not enough power to pull the string off a rice pudding – but a lot of fun.”

After leaving the Scamp at home and going for a road trip in a Mini with a good mate, he decided: “I had to have one.”

He saved up while working part-time in a camera store, which would lead into his other life’s passion, photography.

■ Craig on his Mini Moke. Picture: Ivan Kemp

“Thirty-nine and a half years ago, I bought my first Mini Moke, and I still have it now,” he says.

“It cost me $1500 – even in 1982 that wasn’t much for a car.”

“The two [driving and photography] have always gone hand-in-hand because I’ve travelled all over Australia in a Moke photographing everywhere I go.

“I joined the Moke Owners Association of Victoria. We used to go away on weekend trips and day trips to the snow, the bush and the desert.”

“Once a year we had a big tour. We took five Mokes to Cape York in 1986 and it was fantastic.”

The group even floated one of their Mokes across the Jardine River, before discovering the watercourse was croc-infested.

“If they’re well prepared they’ll float under their own buoyancy,” Craig explains.

“It took us about two hours to haul the Moke across the river, due to how shallow it was, but it was floating under its own buoyancy.

“The guy at the front, pulling on the tow strap and acting as croc bait, was a much younger version of me.”

Later that evening a local bloke, who had watched the river crossing from a dinghy, approached their campsite.

“He had watched us floating the Moke across the river and we thought he was just seeing what we were up to,” Craig remembers.

“He said, ‘I was just looking out for you guys because we had a four-metre croc recently’. We said, ‘we’re not doing that again!’

“But none of us were missing toes or anything.”

Two of the group took up the local man’s offer to go spotlighting in his boat for crocs.

“They came back with him white as a ghost,” Craig laughed.

Craig worked in the darkroom at The Herald and Weekly Times for six years before becoming a freelance photojournalist for automotive magazines.

In 1996 he added a 1972 Mini Van to his collection for work.

“I could put all my stuff in the back and, writing for car magazines, it was kind of neutral,” he says.

“I could go to a Ford or Holden event and not be stoned to death.”

He has driven Minis and Mokes from Cape York to Perth and everywhere in between.

“And in Tassie!” he adds.

“I actually met my wife in the Moke Owners Association. Jane has travelled with me on a lot of the trips.”

He has also done up other Minis with mates and raised more than $60,000 for organisations like Camp Quality, Cancer Council and Canteen in charity rallies across the country.

Currently, Craig owns Focal Point Darkroom and Gallery in North Geelong, and has adapted to obstacle after obstacle thrown at him by COVID-19.

“It’s just so frustrating – every time you think you’re getting ahead and things are starting to go well again, you get another lockdown,” he says.

But he hopes one day – once he gets through it all – to become the first person to drive a fully-functional Austin Ant in Australia in half a century.

“It’s just been waiting for me to have the time and money to start on the restoration,” he says.

“I think it will be my retirement project.” ●

■ The Austin Ant.

■ Craig Watson’s Mini in a rally near Kalgoorlie in 2013 Picture: Craig Watson ■ Craig Watson in his yellow Mini, as Thunderbird 4, in the 2017 Camp Quality esCarpade. Picture: Noni Carroll ■ Craig and his cars.