History of plates
Blog - 26 June 2024
A look back at Victoria’s number plates history
We all know what a number plate is, but where did they begin? Let’s take a step back in time and look at the history of number plates in Victoria.
Before there were plates
It’s hard to imagine getting around Victoria without a car, but before 1900, there were just a handful of motor vehicles in Australia.
Following an explosion of sales at the turn of the century, the government saw the need to introduce a system to identify them all.
Enter The Motor Car Act (1909 (Vic), which came into effect on 1 January 1910. This Act stated that cars must be registered and assigned separate identifying numbers, which were to be affixed to the vehicle. These numbers were often just painted onto the car and not on an ‘official’ plate as we know them today.
The first General Issue plates
Starting in February 1932, the first vehicle registration plates were manufactured and issued at the time of registration by the Motor Registration Branch. These plates were numbers only, starting with numbers 2 to 285,000. The plates were mostly a practical and functional tool that were handmade in Adelaide and made of heavy gauge metal with embossed or raised numbers.
Enter alphanumerical
In May 1939, a new sequence with letters and numbers were brought in. The plates had two letters and three numbers and were white on a black plate. They were made of steel and had ‘VIC’ running down the left had side. The handmade plates were replaced with machine stamped plates.
These combinations lasted for 14 years. In January 1953, three-letter, three-number sequences were introduced. At the time there were around 504,000 motor cars registered in Victoria, which is an incredible growth from the small number of cars on the road at the start of the century.
Shaping into something more familiar...
In the 1970s plates started to take shape into how we know them today. The major shakeup at the time was the introduction of the famous green on white general issue plates with the slogan “Victoria – Garden State”.
Plate slogans became all the rage in 1984, with “Victoria – 150 Years” and “Vic – Nuclear Free State” introduced. You could also request “Victoria” if that was more your style.
In an initiative to promote road safety, “Victoria - Drive Safely” was introduced in 1992 followed by “On the Move” in 1995, introducing the blue on reflective white plates, similar to what we have today.
Custom Plates - the beginnings
Back in the 70s, personalised number plates were first introduced, with limited combinations and colours. Fast forward to 1985, the custom plates that are more like how we know them today were introduced at auction. By March 1988, and nine optional colour backgrounds were introduced available (black, red, mid blue, light green, dark blue, brown, dark green, maroon and burnt orange).
90s -
Footy lovers were soon able to show their team pride too, with the first AFL club plates launching for Footscray (now Western Bulldogs), Carlton, and Melbourne in 1993. Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond followed quickly.
2000s -
Enter the new millennium and enter the take-off of Custom Plates with the introduction of Custom Mix plates and Euro plates. Some of our most iconic and loved custom plate styles followed, with Signature plates launching in 2007 and Premiership plates in 2008. Signature plates, gave Victorians the opportunity to display just two initials, or their initials combined with one or two numbers.
More than ever, footy fans could show the love for their team with AFL premiership plates being released every year for the winning team as well as AFL Upgrade plates being introduced on 1 May 2008. All 16 AFL teams were represented.
2010s -
Victorians continued to add a touch of creativity to their plates with the Warner Brothers and DC Character plates being released in 2011, with I Love and USA Plates released the following year.
In 2017, we launched our futuristic Liquid Metal plates that have a cool, sophisticated silver liquid metal style font with a 3D effect on a black background.
Since then, we’ve been producing thousands of custom plates for people across Victoria, with over 30 Custom Plate styles currently available.
If you’re like us and feeling nostalgic, check out our Retro styles are to relive the glory days with the green and white ‘Garden State’ or blue and white ‘On the Move’ slogans.