Tom Kruse MBE 1999 Tom Kruse 1953
MEDIA RELEASE November 10, 2008
Tom Kruse returns home to unveil
Waterloo bust
The last of four bronze busts of 94 year old
Birdsville Track mailman E.G. (Tom)
Kruse MBE will be unveiled at 2.00 pm on Sunday November 16th in the grounds
of the house he was born in at
Waterloo in the mid north of South Australia.
The permanent home of the bust will be
Waterloo Hall.
Family members Brenton and Roger Kruse will join Tom and Valma Kruse to
unveil the
Waterloo bust.
Highly regarded
Robe based sculptor Ms Patricia Moseley has produced the
busts of legendary outback mailman Tom Kruse MBE.
The four life-sized bronze busts are located at
Birdsville,
Marree, the National
Motor Museum (NMM) at
Birdwood and Tom’s hometown of
Waterloo. The NMM
bust was unveiled by His Excellency Governor General Michael Jeffrey on March
30th, the
Marree bust on June 7th and the
Birdsville bust on September 5th.
The NMM is the permanent home of the 1936 Leyland Badger which featured in
the classic 1954 Australian docudrama The Back of Beyond.
The Badger Restoration Group, headed by Neil Weidenbach and Corrugated Air
Productions, headed by Executive Producer Ian Doyle, raised the funds needed
to complete the Tom Kruse Bust Project.
“Our original target was three busts and $15,000.00. Significantly more was
raised and as a result, we’ve been able to produce this fourth bust for
Waterloo,” bust Appeal Co-Coordinator Ian Doyle said.
The project attracted significant support from a number of organisations
including the CMV Foundation, the RFDS, the
Waterloo Community, Corrugated
Air Productions, Pilatus Australia and numerous private donors.
“The group believes this is an important project which recognises the
significant contribution made by Tom and all the
Birdsville Track mailmen to
outback Australia,” Ian Doyle said.
2
Tom Kruse celebrated his 94th birthday on August 28th. His mail run reenactment
in his fully restored 1936 Leyland Badger was the subject of an
evocative, colourful and emotional documentary Last Mail from
Birdsville –
the Story of Tom Kruse produced by Corrugated Air Productions in 1999. It’s
now available on a double DVD from the Royal Flying Doctor Service (ph 1800
813 318) as part of The Back of Beyond Collection.
“Tom’s travelling OK at the moment and the organising committee is keen to
have him and wife Valma participate in unveiling the busts. We are delighted
Roger and Brenton Kruse are also able to be part of the unveiling at
Waterloo,”
Ian Doyle said.
The Back of Beyond introduced Tom Kruse, Henry Butler and the 1936 Leyland
Badger mail truck to a generation of Australians. Most never forgot the
extraordinary images of the men and the battered truck doing battle each
fortnight with the sand and isolation along the 500 kilometre
Birdsville Track -
outback Australia’s toughest mail run. Shot in black and white, The Back of
Beyond remains one of the most critically acclaimed and awarded films ever
made in Australia.
"Tom Kruse is a dogged, tough giant of a man who was awarded an MBE in 1955
for
services to the people of the outback. We recognise far too few of our
heroes. These bronze busts celebrate the life of one of this country’s living
legends," Ian Doyle said.
Tom and members of the Kruse family and sculptor Patricia Moseley will attend
the
Waterloo unveiling. A gold coin donation afternoon tea in the
Waterloo
Community Hall will follow the unveiling.
##
Waterloo is ten kilometres east of
Manoora (north of
Saddleworth) on the
Tarlee to
Burra road in the mid north of South Australia. The Tom Kruse book and
DVDs will available at
Waterloo.
More information:
Ian Doyle Brenton Kruse
Appeal Co-Coordinator Kruse Quarries
M: 0417 819 189 M: 0417 812 520
Pandie Pandie Station 1986
Birdsville Track 1999
The Tom Kruse Bust Appeal PO Box 2503 Kent Town SA 5071