Small collection belonging to legendary outback character Fred Teague (1912-1994) consisting of local geological and mineral specimens, Aboriginal artefacts as well as extensive range of items relating to European settlement in the Flinders Ranges. Housed inside the Mobil Service station which Teague began as Hawker Motors in 1952 and is now also the Hawker Visitor Information Centre.
Frederick Arthur Teague was born on 28 November 1912 in Olary on the Barrier Highway, one of the most easternmost settlements in South Australia, close to Broken Hill. His father died when he was 3 months old and whilst growing up he helped his mother run the Waukaringa Hotel on the Waukaringa goldfield, 45 km from Yunta, eventually working as a gold prospector, fox shooter, post cutter, horse tailer in the droving camps, and a shearer. Eventually he drove trucks for legendary trucker Harry Ding of Yunta, pioneering long distance trucking, using a massive AEC unit with 3 tiered sheep pens. Then in the late 1930s for about 18 months he joined legendary Tom Kruse driving the Marree Birdsville mail run. Fred married his wife Eileen in Peterborough in1940, moving to Hawker with their first child a year later. They were to have 5 children. Fred bought the general store in Hawker in 1952 and transformed it into a garage at nights while still driving the mail during the day. The first country SAGASCO agent, he also formed the first Flinders Tourism committee, seeing huge potential in tourism of the Flinders Ranges. An inveterate collector, he was an expert in the geology and archaeology of the area.
His collection includes the gold scales he used on the gold field in the 1930 depression, Traeger Pedal radios, insulators from the overland telegraph line, camel boots and bullock cues for bullock teams used in stony country, horse shoes as well as collections of geological specimens and rare fossils.