Wollongong's legendary Dion's buses celebrate 100 years on the road

Over the years, a Dion's bus took passengers to Port Kembla, Kiama, as well as daily trips to Sydney.

People could also travel to the Blue Mountains, Jenolan Caves and even Canberra - all on a Dion's bus.

Along the way, Dion's became a much-loved part of the community; people think fondly of the service, which admittedly isn't a common way to feel about a bus company.

On Friday, December 1, the bus company celebrates 100 years on the road - a true milestone in anyone's book.

The anniversary is being celebrated with a private event at the Wollongong Art Gallery, which will include the screening of a half-hour film made by Wollongong's Why Documentaries.

Managing director Les Dion initially hadn't thought about marking the anniversary, saying "it's just another day at the office".

"It's only when you stop and reflect, when you go back to the history, then you have a greater appreciation for it," Mr Dion said.

"You think 'yeah, I'm actually sitting in the hot seat. When you go through all that, that's when I have a bit of change of thought."

That history started with the arrival in Australia of Thomas Chong in 1880 - the Dion name was a gradual evolution. After marrying Annie in 1898, the first child, Ivy was given the surname of Chong Da On.

The second, Tom, was Chong Di On, and it continued until Edward was born in 1908, and the "Chong" was dropped and his surname was Di-On. Over time, the hyphen disappeared and the family name became Dion by 1912.

The family had bought and run a general store in the Eurobodalla town of Nerrigundah, before moving to Wollongong in 1907 and taking over a market garden; the Fraternity Club now occupies part of that land.

Thomas passed away in 1920 and, with 12 children in the family, and one on the way, the need to diversify beyond the market garden was obvious.

So, in February 1923, eldest son Tom opened up a store on the corner of Keira and Smith streets and, on December 1 of that year, he drove the first Dion's bus - from Wollongong to Balgownie and Bellambi.

The well-known Wollongong-Austinmer run began in 1926, with Tom passing on the Balgownie and Bellambi runs to 18-year-old brother Ted.

It was only two months after the December 1923 start that Tom's run-ins with the law began.

In January 1924, Thomas was pinged for not having a tail-light, which started a long pattern of various Dion family drivers having to appear in court for not parking close enough to the kerb, cutting in front of other buses queuing outside the picture theatre and not sticking to the timetable.

That last one would be the reason various Dions would appear in court dozens of times; in November 1935, Tom Jr and Barney (born Charles) appeared in court on the same day because of timetable breaches.

By the mid-1980s, the ongoing timetable fines led to Barney appearing on A Current Affair. Elsewhere Tom defended the family, saying the Department of Transport "expects us to leave behind passengers we see running for the bus - all for the sake of the timetable".

Rather than complaining about slow buses, Wollongong residents jumped to the Dions' defence - many remembering their Depression-era 'no one should walk' policy, where people would be picked up even if they didn't have the fare.

Local felt the Department of Transport was singling out the Dions - and that wasn't a new feeling; a judge in 1930 said it looked as though they "were being picked on"..

The Mercury backed the family too, writing in a September 1987 editorial that the bus company "is a people business and will always be so".

"Wollongong should put the family on a pedestal as an example to the rest of the world that some people still care, not prosecute them," the Mercury wrote.

Mr Dion agreed with the idea the family had been singled out, noting all the bus operators at the time probably "did play a bit of shenanigans".

"At the end of the day it was more they [the Dion family drivers] would argue that we're looking after our customers. We can't take off straight away until the lady sits down or what have you," he said.

"It would be argued that other bus operators weren't so concerned about that. They were more concerned with the timetable."

Mr Dion had driven buses for the family business and took over running things in 1989 - where it become his job to fix up the timetabling issues.

"The Minister for Transport was looking to cancel our licence to operate unless we sorted out the timetable and sorted out on time running and the fleet," Mr Dion said.

"I don't think Uncle Tom believed for a minute that anyone would stamp 'cancelled' on his license to operate. There would have been quite the community uproar but eventually it was going to give."

While Uncle Tom was suspicious about reporting to the state government, Mr Dion found them quite helpful. Reporting on fares also meant the government would pay the family the money owed to them for things like concession fares.

It took a while for many of the senior Dions to warm to this kid in his 20s telling them what to do. But his dad Les Snr - who only retired from driving at age 85 - supported his son when the brothers would come to complain.

"I was 110 per cent backed by my dad," Mr Dion said.

"He supported me behind the scenes. They would defer to him to say 'well, what are we going to do?' and he'd encourage them to let the reins go, 'because there ain't no one else and you've got to give him a go'."

Mr Dion helped to usher in the modern age, adding wheelchair-accessible buses, air-conditioning (reportedly the first Wollongong route to do so), shuttle services to the University of Wollongong and the introduction of the Opal card, which would have brought the government far too close for Uncle Tom's liking.

Though Mr Dion is still quite aware of the Dion family legacy, and the memories people have.

"I quite often get people coming up and saying 'my grandmother told me this' or 'my parents told me that' so there is a bit of folklore floating around which is really good," he said.

"It's quite a lasting legacy of what the first generation did, especially when you look at the Depression where they almost lost a couple of bus to repossession but they still gave free rides.

"I think the great thing was that they were just getting on with it. They were just doing what they did with and the community became their friends and they just looked after them."