30 Years

Yes. We are 30 Years old and counting!

30th Birthday 2016

The club celebrated 30 years of achievement on the 7th May at a venue in Brisbane's East. This event was in the planning stages for over a year and is seen as an important milestone for the club.

The event was a great success, an interactive and a fun night. The theme was not only about the achievements of those that have made this a great club over the last 30 years but also to launch the club into another 30 years.


We wish to express appreciation to the following sponsors who have contributed, helping us make this a memorable occasion.

30th Year Mapping project

Click on the map above for an enlarged copy .

As part of the celebrations a project has been initiated to collect and document, in graphic form, the places that members of the club have been on official club trips over the 30 year life of the organisation. Information has being gathered, starting at the 30year party, in the form of a marked up paper map . Members at the party, were asked to trace their trip routes onto the map from memory. As anticipated the mark-up just about covered every major road and track route throughout Australia in no time. There are some notable exceptions that will soon be captured as well . Members will now find it harder to contribute new routes as time goes on. Never the less, further efforts will be made to capture anything missing from any willing people who were unable to attend the party or were too busy to get to the map.

The end product will be digitised in some form, perhaps just photographed, or preferably transferred to a scalable map and published on the web. This will open up the possibility of ever more detailed records of short trips in our corner of OZ.

Looking back at the 25th Birthday in 2011

The club celebrated its 25th Birthday at the Woodford showgrounds in 2011, a great weekend of partying, entertainment and 4WDing.

A Special Edition of the club magazine was produced for the occasion. A PDF copy can be seen on our Forum HERE New users will need to Register on the Forum and Log In.

Below are some selected highlights from the Anniversary magazine.

Edited from The PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE at 25 years

This all started in 1986 with the Foundation Members. It was their foresight and like-minded love for four-wheel driving, touring and generally getting dirty and damaged, that brought us all together over the past 25 years.

This has promoted long lasting friendships, through trips together and so much discussion - ‘What have you done/fitted to your vehicle?’ ‘You need to this because it worked for me’ - and in particular the latest tech tips and gadgets we all purchase. It can always be said that whenever Club members get together there is always a bonnet up and very serious looks from the heads peering under it with much debate on whether something will it fit or not.Over the years, the Club has assisted the community in manyways, with fodder drops during the drought and in flood clean-ups. This is an ongoing item for our club, as we are part of the wider community and when we band together, great things can be achieved.

I also enjoy the ability of the Club to draw on our skills and organise educational sessions, like the first aid and chainsaw courses, not to mention the Driver Awareness Program. They are valuable training for our members.

I think what I enjoy most is reading trip reports and listening to verbals at Club meetings. There have been some crackers over the years and I look forward to many more. I hope the many reports and photographs contained in the following pages bring back a few memories and whet your appetite for future trips

Our Club is only as strong as our members and from what I have seen over my years of membership, we have a very strong Club with a fascinating history and with a huge depth of membership to build on over the next 25 years.

Thanks go to the Club’s Patron, Mitsubishi Motors Australia, for their continued support. It has become a very valued relationship.

20th Anniversary at Blackbutt 2006

If you’ve ever wondered just how the club was first conceived, well sit back and wonder no more…


I remember it well. Way back in the New Year of ‘86, a group of us (me, Paul, Greg and Rob) on a trip to Fraser Island were lounging around, watching some poor so & so washing his vehicle, quite unawares it was ever so slowly sinking to the floorboards into Eli Creek.


There was no shortage of rescuers on hand to help Mr So & So, as back in those days, everyone was a hero on Fraser, each with a bigger, better, tougher vehicle than the others. In the mayhem that followed—two broken diffs, numerous snapped ropes, a torn-off rear bumper and a burnt-out clutch—people got talking. A breakaway band from the Subaru Club were moving amongst the crowd informing them about a new club about to be formed. And that’s where I first met them.


With the help of Mitsubishi Motors Australia, invitations to attend an inaugural meeting were sent to all recent buyers of Mitsubishi four-wheel drives. Those invitations reached far and wide to many varied groups and individuals. The meeting took place on 8 April 1986 at St Lucia Golf Links clubhouse, where it was voted that we become known as ‘The Mitsubishi Four Wheel Drive Owners’ Club of Queensland’. The ‘Inc’ part was to officially come later once our Constitution had been approved by the Justice Department, allowing us to then join the Queensland Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs. Regrettably this didn’t eventuate until December 1987. Printing and postage for the first fifteen months of Diamond Torque had ‘drained the coffers’ , leaving insufficient funds to meet the Association’s entrance fee. Speaking of fees, in the Club’s first year it would have cost you $5 to join and $15 to be a member.


Our club started out not with mass confusion, but rather as a conglomerate of “single" (ed) interest lobbyists whose combined previous experience steered us down the road to success. One member, now a life member, headed a regimented brigade of people ex- “another Club - ed” looking for a new start. With his Shooters Association and prior 4WD club knowledge, not a meeting went by for over a year without him at some time (usually several times) interjecting with, ‘Ah, Mr President, the gun club does it this way…’ or ‘Ah, Mr President, you have to propose a motion before you can vote on it!’ etc, until finally, in 1987, he got to be Mr President.


Then there was the “HARD” faction; those who sought to annex us as a branch of another club. Real adrenalin junkies they were, for whom HARD, TUFF, FAAAST was the only way (well, maybe I exaggerate a bit). They introduced our club to most of the areas we now use for medium to hard trips. They knew them all. They competed in everything, earning the Mitsubishi Club a ‘competitive’ name for itself. Some of them are still with us these days, although somewhat mellowed compared to all those years ago. Daihatsu and Suzuki clubs also constituted some of our initial membership. Our inaugural committee substantially reflected that rebel Subaru group. Some had close ties with people at Mitsubishi, who helped enormously then, just as they do today. Also our Club Constitution and magazine were ‘butchered’ and re-modelled from those of the Subie Club.


So there you have it. The Mitsubishi 4WD Owners’ Club does not boast the thoroughbred heritage you might expect. In fact, we were born a bit of a mongrel, or a brumby, but over the years have matured through the input of a great many people. There are stories behind these stories I’m sure; vital facts that I might have missed. Hopefully, though, it has given you some idea of our club’s ‘roots'.

By the way, Mr So & So was eventually recovered by a chap with a nice 4WD and a marvellous new accessory: the “Snatch-em Strap”

Reprinted (abridged ) from Vol 10 No 7 July 1996 (adapted for the web)