The Australian Six was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 manufactured from 1919 to 1925. It was a grandiose attempt to compete against imported cars from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and was produced from a mixture of local and imported parts. Vehicles featured a conventional chassis

Chassis

A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...

 layout and a choice of five bodies, locally made under the motto 'Made in Australia, by Australians, for Australia'. Most models were fitted with Rutenber

Rutenber Motor Company

The Rutenber Motor Company was established as the Rutenber Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois, USA, to manufacture a four-cylinder engine to the design of Edwin Rutenber....

 Straight-6

Straight-6

The straight-six engine or inline-six engine is a six-cylinder internal combustion engine with all six cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase...

 engines and Grand Lees or Muncie gearboxes; some, however, had imported OHV Ansted

Ansted

The Ansted was an American automobile; successor to the Lexington and the Ansted-Lexington, it was manufactured from 1926 to 1927. Following the sale of the Lexington plant in Connersville, Indiana to Auburn, the company marketed its last cars as Ansteds. They were the same as Lexingtons,...

 engines instead. Before 1919 the factory was at the Sydney Harbour

Port Jackson

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

 side suburb of Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, it then moved to Ashfield

Ashfield, New South Wales

Ashfield is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Ashfield is about 9 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Ashfield.The official name for the...

 until 1924. The company was forced to shut down production after some 500 cars were built; this was due mainly to high local construction costs. The final few cars were made by the Harkness and Hillier hire car company in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. Sixteen Australian Sixes survive, one in the Powerhouse Museum

Powerhouse Museum

The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney, the other being the historic Sydney Observatory...

 automobile collection in Sydney.

The term Australian Six (or "Big Aussie six" etc.) is sometimes used to refer to Australian-built large family car

Large family car

A large family car, also known as a D-segment car, is a European automobile classification which is larger than a small family car and smaller than an executive car. Multi-purpose vehicles based on a large family car design are often called large MPVs, while similarly-priced models from luxury car...

s such as the Ford Falcon

Ford Falcon (Australia)

The Ford Falcon is a full-size car which has been manufactured by Ford Australia since 1960. Each model from the XA series of 1972 onward has been designed, developed and built in Australia and/or New Zealand, following the phasing out of the American Falcon of 1960–71 which had been re-engineered...

, Holden Commodore

Holden Commodore

The Holden Commodore is an automobile manufactured since 1978 by the Holden subsidiary of General Motors in Australia, and, formerly, in New Zealand. In the mid-1970s, Holden established proposals to replace the long-serving Kingswood nameplate with a smaller, Opel-based model...

/Toyota Lexcen, Toyota Avalon

Toyota Avalon

The Toyota Avalon is a full-size car produced by Toyota in the United States, and is the flagship sedan of Toyota in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Middle East. It was also produced in Australia from 2000 until July 2005 when it was replaced in November 2006 by the Toyota Aurion...

/Aurion

Toyota Aurion

The Toyota Aurion is a mid-size car produced by Toyota in Australia and parts of Asia since 2006. The Aurion, given the model designation XV40 is essentially a Toyota Camry with revised front- and rear-end treatment, along with changes to the interior...

, the Mitsubishi Magna

Mitsubishi Magna

The Mitsubishi Magna was a mid-size car offered between May 1985 and September 2005 by Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited . Manufactured at the Tonsley Park assembly plant, Magna spanned three generations before being replaced by the Mitsubishi 380...

/380

Mitsubishi 380

The Mitsubishi 380 is a mid-size car that was produced by Mitsubishi Motors Australia between 2005 and 2008. It was the successor to the Mitsubishi Magna/Verada line of vehicles first introduced in 1985. The company spent over A$600 million developing and producing the car, which is heavily based...

, the Chrysler Valiant

Chrysler Valiant

The Chrysler Valiant is a passenger car which was introduced by Chrysler Australia in 1962 with production ceasing in 1981. Initially a rebadged locally assembled Plymouth Valiant from the U.S., the Valiant range was sold throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as South Africa...

 & the Leyland P76

Leyland P76

The Leyland P76 is a large car that was produced by Leyland Australia, the Australian subsidiary of British Leyland. Featuring what was described at the time as the "standard Australian wheelbase of 111 inches", it was intended to provide the company with a genuine rival to large local models like...

, which often have six-cylinder engines as standard.

In 1984 the car was honoured on a postage stamp

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

, part of a series of five depicting early Australian automobiles, issued by Australia Post

Australia Post

Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...

http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0014670.jpg.