The trusted name in Australia for over 70 years

The Millard history has it’s origins way back in 1947, with Jim Darlington building caravans in a small factory in Mortlake, a southern suburb of Sydney. Jim had two sons, John and younger brother Peter. John would come in and give his father a hand building vans in the early days.

Around 1954, the business was moved to 26 Wicks Road, North Ryde and John became the owner, with father Jim on hand for guidance. In an interview in 1969, John Darlington said he decided to go into the caravan business after looking at a caravan and commenting “I’ll bet I could make a better one”.

Younger brother Peter also joined the business and worked his way up the ranks, starting as a carpenter and progressing into the Executive team.

It appears the brand name Millard was first introduced by John Darlington, whose middle name was Millerd (with an e). A check of family history websites shows this Irish name to be interchangeable with the name Millard (with an a).

John’s wife May was perturbed because the early Millar caravan range was limited in colour to Silver and Green. She became involved in the interior decorating of the vans, and introduced the homely touch, especially in her choice of colours for full-length curtains and other furnishings.

The Sydney Morning Herald archives provide information of new models ‘Safari’ and ‘Florida’, first introduced around August 1963.

The Millard Safari in 1963 was advertised as ‘Safari 12ft 6in Caravans. The lowest priced, top quality aluminium caravans in Australia today.” The Millard Florida was 14ft 6ins.

The Safari model carried through to early 1966, when adverts for the ‘new’ Capri model start appearing. When the new Capri came to market by May 1966, it was a 15ft Deluxe model with a 13ft basic Capri “at budget prices”. The Safari was then discontinued, but a new Florida 15ft was announced in July 1967.
By the mid-1960’s, the Millard business had grown so big that a new factory was setup at Smithfield, an outer western suburb of Sydney. By 1969, the factory employed 250 people, with a monthly output of 100 units. Through a network of dealers, Millard marketed a range of 60 models, from 13ft to 40ft.

At the peak of the caravan boom in the mid-1970s, Millard was one of Australia’s top caravan brands, along with Chesney, Coronet, Franklin and Viscount. At one point it was building up to 74 caravans a day, as well as averaging more than 4000 vans a year.

But Millard’s fortunes didn’t last for ever and it was more bad luck, rather than bad management, that forced the Darlingtons to sell their assets to Viscount in 1979. Alongside the petrol shortage of the late seventies, and sky-rocketing petrol prices, Australians were in no mood to buy big cars and tow caravans.

The Millard name was sold to Viscount Caravans. Of course, Viscount’s fortunes eventually ran out, and when the business was sold to the Gazal family, Millard went with it. When Viscount finally ran out of steam, in 2001 Gary Willer and the late Stan Edwards bought the Viscount jigs and fittings from the receivers of Viscount Caravans and, after being given permission by the Darlington family, resurrected the Millard brand soon after.

In 2019, Gary Willer decided to sell the business and hand over the iconic brand recognising new ideas and fresh minds were needed to reinvigorate the Millard brand to the market. The Millard brand remains Australian owned which was part of the sale criteria. From 2020 Millard restructured the business, worked closely with their dealership network to develop new design concepts, select new materials, colourways and introduce a new range-MFlow. The end result has brought new upmarket caravans to the market but retaining the Darlington’s philosophy “Affordable, top quality and the renowned Millard DNA - Hot Dipped Galvanized Chassis, Aluminium Internal Walls and Full Piece Roof”. Millard currently builds the MFlow, Toura and Breakaway caravans as well as Millards Slideon in its factory site in Sydney’s south-west.

5 year Structural +
2 year Manufacturing warranty

All Millard Caravans are built to last with a hot dipped galvanised chassis, an Aluminium structural wall frame and full piece composite roof.

This gives you peace of mind in the longevity of the life of your quality-built Millard caravan which is backed by our commitment and promise of a 5 year Structural and 2 year Manufacturing warranty*.

Testimonials

"In choosing a Millard caravan I was influenced by the fact that Millard’s is an established Australian company, the Millard caravan is made in Australia, the caravan has an all metal frame and a galvanised chassis. The internal fit out is also excellent in presentation and functionally. Well worth the money."

John

“For nearly 20 years I have sold Caravans and also at a very young age have travelled all around Australia with my parents in a van , and when it came to purchasing my own caravan my choice was a Millard Toura the reason being was quality of manufacturing starting with the hot dipped gal chassis, aluminium frame and a one piece roof and to top it off Cruisemaster independent suspension which opened up for me to go into National Parks etc. Once again I have sold a number of brands but with my years of experience in the industry I came back to a Brand & name that has been proven for many years.”

Ken

"Conversations around the campfire or the “Happy Hour” get together, always seems to be about ones caravan, what we have, what we have changed or modified, what gadgets we have found.
The most important thing is what works for you! After sitting on the fence and watching my family go through the process with their purchases of 6 Millard Caravans, yes, 6 over a period of only 5 years, it was a no brainier what brand we were going to purchase. We did do our research of other makes and models, however, Millard always came up trumps.

The fun began after we knew what the weight capacity we could tow, the wants and needs, the team at Millard’s made it easy. We settled on a 23 ft “Breakaway”, with a central bathroom, a rear club lounge and a few…, “make that many extras” just to make our glamping days a bit more comfortable. With Peters engineering background and an eye for detail when it comes to the manufacturing of the chassis and drawbar, the welding, bracing and gussets along with the hot galvanising internally and externally is nothing short of outstanding.

Peter wanted a beer fridge, I wanted an outside kitchen and an inside oven, leather lounge and kitchen cupboards that work for me, a few modifications in the bathroom. Nothing was a problem, I mean nothing.
Millard’s didn’t disappoint, from the moment we signed our agreement, the changes we made along the way, to the day we drove that monster out of the driveway.
I read so many stories on the Caravan forums and most of the complaints are about after-sales service. With every new purchase be it a car or a caravan there is always something you want to change/modify or fix. We took off on our first sojourn with pad and pen in readiness. We came back with only 2 minor issues, nothing detrimental, only a scratch in the sink, a draw I opted to delete when designing “what was I thinking, by removing a draw”. In no time at all, I had a new sink and a draw put back in. The first service was carried out as we expected 'The Millard way'.

Are we happy with our Millard? 100% YES."

Jedda & Peter

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Millard Caravans are accredited by RVMAP, the official accreditation key of the caravan industry. The RVMAP accreditation key is a symbol of a manufacturer’s commitment to consistently build and supply quality products that adhere to all relevant Australian design rules, regulations and standards.