Address & Contact
Birdseye Highway
Coolillie SA 5670
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Information
The memorial commemorates Sylvia Birdseye who was the first woman to hold a commercial bus licence. Sylvia and her husband, Sydney, started a service from Adelaide to Port Augusta, which was extended to Port Lincoln in 1933, Streaky Bay in 1938 and eventually to Ceduna. The roads on the Eyre Peninsula, particularly in the early days, were often just horse tracks. They were extremely difficult to negotiate for buses. Sylvia earned a reputation for driving skill, resourcefulness and toughness: wearing her signature overalls, she changed her own tyres, performed most of the maintenance and repairs on her buses, and negotiated even the toughest creek crossings and sand banks.
The Birdseye Highway across Eyre Peninsula between Cowell and Elliston is named in her honour.