it’s Matt

Matt Clark at ‘Develo Pro’ not only knows his way around high performance road & classic cars, he also has a rich heritage in Port Adelaide & when he saw the opportunity to set up shop in our Port, he jumped at it. Matt can tell a great story... & here’s one of them.

“You can’t buy what we’ve got in Port Adelaide, it’s not like anywhere else. The history is just incredible.”

“How’s this for a story... My Dads, Father left the family when he was two years old, so he was raised by his grandparents, my great great grandparents. Now, my great grandfather was born in Farina which is up past Leigh Creek in the Flinders Ranges. My great grandfather had a brother & they were the Johnstons... Andrew and Mark Johnston & they ran a freight company which was a donkey team. They would cart goods from Port Adelaide to Birdsville... so 100 years ago, they were walking down Saint Vincent Street with donkeys and goods to go to Birdsville, that had come off the ship in Port Adelaide all the way from England.”

“It took at least three months to do the trip from Port Adelaide to Birdsville & another three months to get back... & if it rained and they get stuck, they could be stranded up near Birdsville for up to six months.”

“So they would have donkeys and camels loaded up in Port Adelaide with goods from the UK, they would drive it up North where they met another team that had come down from Queensland... they’d all meet at Birdsville. Wool would be brought down from up in Queensland and then it would be brought back to Port Adelaide on their return trip.”

“Also my grandmother was born in Port Adelaide, so it’s fair to say that I have a rich heritage here.”

Matt has a plan to deck out the ‘Develo Pro’ workshop space with some huge black & white blown up prints of his great grandfather with the donkey teams & all the stuff they used to carry in and out of Port Adelaide. 

The other Connection Matt has in the Port is his wife Mel of ‘Port Blooms’ who has created a thriving business of her own right on our doorstep. With them both now working in the Port, look out... it’s a great combination of two passionate people flying the Port flag & doing amazing work... what else would you expect... ‘itsPortAdelaide.’

To find out more about ‘Develo Pro’ & how the team can take care of your high performance road or classic cars, check ‘em out at www.developro.com.au & Develo_Pro