Earliest Memories of Outback Travel and the vehicles used.

A recent thread in the forum has got the old memory ticking over, and I thought it would be fun to hear and see a few of your memories of what you can remember from your early tiimes of outback travel.

MINE is of the many thousands of kilometers, or miles in those days, we did in our old holden ute, in the 1950's. It was khaki green. It had a canopy, thank god, cause right at the back sitting on the swags is where my sister and I and our dog sat, looking at a huge following dust cloud mostly LOL. They would lock your parents up for that these days LOL. Had NO comunications, air conditioner, gps, 4wd, hi lift suspension, winch, snatch strap etc. In fact it was a standard holden ute. The ute carried all our worldly possessions, which consisted of clothing and personal stuff, camping and cooking gear, water, food, spare fuel, tools, and I don't know what spares the old fella carried, but fencing wire would have been up there on the list of priorities. He was, and probably still thinks he is, at 87, the sort of bloke who in a time of crisis would have a cuppa, a smoke and a think about it, and then proceed to fix it with whatever means were available.

This photo was taken sometime in 1957, in the hills east of Mt. Isa, when we were on our yearly holidays to Cairns, from Mt. Doreen Station out there on the Tanami Track. I'm 9 years old in the photo and now pushing 63.



We had a year earlier, travelled from the Darling Downs, through central Qld, out to Mt. Doreen Station, where my Father worked as the station mechanic, and my mum was the station cook. The Tanami in those days, was mainly a two wheel wide track, which basically ended at Mt. Doreen. This ute took us to the Qld coast and back again a couple of times, and then to a sheep property in the Gulf Country, north of Julia Creek to a property called Beeantha, where my parents worked in similar positions.

I can recall driving with my Dad, after work, down from the station to Nelia, probably about 30 miles or so south, so my father could buy a carton of beer on payday. Steel cans, no ring-pulls....someone is gonna ask how they opened the cans :-).... The station was on the north side of the Flinders River, and we had to cross a causeway which mostly had water flowing across it. I can remember the old fella walking it first, water halfway up to his knees, saying "She'll be right." Coming home in the dark and repeating the procedure, has left an everlasting respect for water/river crossings on me.
Geez we had some good times in it that ute, and camped at dozens and dozens of bush camps during our travels. No hotels or motels. Just stop, pull up off the road in a good spot, and in no time the campfire was going, billy on the boil, swags out, and Mum cooking up a feast.

That ute made way for a '56 ford customline when we moved to Darwin, in 1961.

I feel so privileged to have had the times we did in the outback. Aaahhh they were the days.

Some years later, just before Christmas 1968, I accompanied a Navy colleague of mine, across the Nullabor, from Perth to Melbourne, when a lot of the Nullabor was dirt, in a Mini Minor. But that's another story.

Fred.