Fixing a hole in the sump

I am retelling this story from a book by Douglas Lockwood “Crocodiles and Other People” published in 1959.

Douglas Lockwood was visiting his mate Jack MacKay out at Mainoru Station on the southern border of Arnhemland. Jack was relaying a tale of how they had been travelling with the old International through the long grass bumping in to stumps and anthills along the way.

Quote; “It knocked the bottom out of the sump and before I could do anything about it all the oil drained out into the sand. Now you can’t separate sand from oil and I didn’t have a spare drum of oil on board. We were forty miles from the homestead and it is a principle with me that I never walk.”

“So what would you have done, Doug?”

“Walk” he said.

“Nah, I told you, no walking.”

“Then lay down and die.”

“Nonsense! This country is kind to you if you know how to use it. Never panic. Always sit down first and have a think. Boil the billy, have a cuppa. It helps the old thought-stream.”

“How does thinking or drinking tea help you get oil?” asked Doug.

“Mean yer dunno? It’s dead easy. We sat down and boiled the billy. Then I got the stockmen to build a bigger fire, and then we took the top off a 44 gallon drum to use as a boiler. The old refinery you may say. Then we tracked down a bullock, the fattest one we could find. I shot him and we rendered the fat into the drum. While that was bubbling away I made a doughy damper and tied it on to the bottom of the sump with fencing wire. There’s nothing like damper and fencing wire for patching things up. When the fat was all ready I started the motor and let it get good and hot and then I poured the hot fat into the hot engine. Had to keep the motor going and running good and packed our things up real quick and the old girl got us home. And all that happened in under a full day!”

“But you should’ve seen the mess when the engine got cold again!”

Cheers