Pat Callinan credits LR for thr Snowy - almost.

[DiscoMick]

Nice to watch the latest Pat Callinan DVD and see a piece on how 800 Land Rovers opened up the Snowy Mountains scheme from 1950, complete with some good video of Series 1s doing their thing.
Pity they then spoiled it with a little rant about how the first Landcruisers, which didn't arrive untl 1958 were supposedly so good - despite Ian Glover admitting they had a transfer case which disintegrated under load.
Amusing they then immediately showed Alan Gray in the Terrain Tamer 60 series getting bogged in a mudhole which a Pajero and a Patrol cruised through. Not so good after all, hey.
There are plenty of Series 1s around so why didn't they organise an owner to bring one along for this piece?
Its amusing how the Toyota lovers attempt to rewrite history to cover up the role of Land Rovers in doing all the heavy lifting in the Snowy scheme well before the first Toyota even arrived on the scene.

[Reads90]

Before he had a Nissan he had a Defender 130. Which he told me loved and travel all over Aus with but he has the Nissan as he gets paid to drive it.
Was talking to him at the Brisbane 4x4 show.

[uninformed]

did they show the snowy special LRs with massive tall tyres fitted?

[PAT303]

1346 LR's,13 Cruisers worked on the snowy. Pat

[Roverlord off road spares]

What's the old saying, the first vehicle that people of the world's unexplored areas saw was a Land Rover.
The Land Rovers used on the snowy softened up the tracks for the later coming Toyos.

[Sirocco]

What's the old saying, the first vehicle that people of the world's unexplored areas saw was a Land Rover.
The Land Rovers used on the snowy softened up the tracks for the later coming Toyos.

Isn't there a myth somewhere about someone dropping or leaving behind a Land Rover Owners Manual in an African village and 10 years later the names of everyone in the village where vehicle parts!

"Good morning my name is crankshaft" I think it went something like that :D

G

[PAT303]

National Geographic estimated that the first object from the developed world that 50% of the undeveloped world saw a Land Rover. Pat

[4x4 MORE]

wow! really!

[DiscoKym]

I saw a video somewhere where they say it was more like 80% of the undeveloped world first vehicle they ever saw was a Land Rover.

Pat also gives the new Disco 4 a huge rap in the new magazine. He says BMW and FORD couldn't get land Rover Reliable but TATA has done it.. :)

Snowy just like most history stories. Land Rover open up the world, Toyota follow years later and take all the credit. :censored: Except the Simpson Desert and we all know the Patrol did that...

[carjunkieanon]

I've read that they used a few Willy's Jeeps before they brought in the Landrovers….

shhh - don't tell the Jeep owners.

[Roverlord off road spares]

When Neil Armstrong was stepping down the ladder of the lunar capsule and was about to be the first man to step onto the moon he said "one small step of man, one huge leap for mankind" well that's the edited version officially released by NASA. The truth is the unedited version was actually, One small step for man, one huge leap for mankind, **** there are Land Rover tyre tracks all over the place!!!!!"

[V8Ian]

When Neil Armstrong was stepping down the lander of the lunar capsule and was about to be the first man to step onto the moon he said "one small step of man, one huge leap for mankind" well that's the edited version officially released by NASA. The truth is the unedited version was actually, One small steep for man, one huge leap for mankind, **** there are Land Rover tyre tracks all over the place!!!!!"
:Rolling::Rolling::Rolling: That's a cracker.

[BMKal]

When Neil Armstrong was stepping down the ladder of the lunar capsule and was about to be the first man to step onto the moon he said "one small step of man, one huge leap for mankind" well that's the edited version officially released by NASA. The truth is the unedited version was actually, One small step for man, one huge leap for mankind, **** there are Land Rover tyre tracks all over the place!!!!!"

And puddles of oil ........................... :wasntme:

[bob10]

I've read that they used a few Willy's Jeeps before they brought in the Landrovers….

shhh - don't tell the Jeep owners.


Well, here are some facts, Bob








Land-Rover in the Snowy Mountains Scheme.


A. J. Maeder

The Monaro region is ideal territory for the Land-Rover, with rough rolling hills, summer sand and winter mud, the Snowy Mountain area with steep valleys and rocky plateau, and the annual onslaught of snow and ice. The NSW Rover distributors, Grenville Motors of Sydney, sold a number of early vehicles to farmers and graziers in the area, a market that survived for the next 30 years unabated. As the waiting list for new Land-Rovers lengthened, vehicles were obtained from a number of other agents including P.D.Murphy in Cooma, R.R.Genge in Canberra and several statewide trading companies such as Permewan Wright. The majority of these were intended simply for agricultural use and would probably have spent their entire working lives on the owner's property. The coming of the Snowy Mountains project changed all that.
At the time of its inception in 1949, the SMHEA (http://www.4wdonline.com/Places/Au/SMHEA/SMHEA.html) had an immediate need for small 4WD vehicles for survey teams for use in conjunction with horses. It appears that initially surplus Willys Jeeps were used but a number of Land-Rovers were acquired within the first year of operations. The surveyors needs were soon eclipsed by those of road and housing construction workers and the ubiquitous overseers and foremen. Soon block orders of Land-Rovers were being placed: they filled the niche admirably and had no contemporary rival, so they became entrenched in the fleet and were ordered in comparatively large numbers throughout the Series I era. The SMHEA probably holds the record in NSW for the most prolific purchaser of new Land-Rovers. The sales records of Grenville Motors show that 96 vehicles were purchased from them between 1950 and 1952, and in 1953 alone a staggering 132 Land-Rovers were acquired. By this stage they were being used largely for individual transport to worksites, in much the same way as bicycles are used in some mines - simply pick one up in the morning and head off to the job. With the advent of the revised Series I in 1954 a further buying spree resulted and LWB utilities were added to the transport pool.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/08/1419.jpg
During this period a number of curious Land-Rover options were adopted by the SMHEA. The initial vehicles had all been basic utilities with full length canvas hoods and the standard Dunlop Trakgrip directional tyres. Popular in-service modifications were the fitting of universal straight bar lug tyres, dust excluder rings on the backing plates and multiple electric demisters on the windscreen. Many were factory-fitted with PTO units on the gearbox but it does not appear that these were particularly useful. By the mid 1950s front-mounted capstan winches were in vogue, doubtless to aid recovery of unaccompanied vehicles. When the metal hardtop became available in 1951, virtually all the SWB vehicles subsequently ordered sported this option. By this stage the spare wheel carrier on the bonnet had become conventional too, allowing more usable load space in the tray.
Some unusual vehicle models were also obtained, presumably for evaluation since very few were bought. In June 1950 a vehicle equipped with a Lincoln Arc Welding unit and DC generator was obtained, followed by a second unit in October and another in March 1953. There is little recollection about these vehicles in service. Two station wagons (http://www.4wdonline.com/LandRover/Series/S1/80wgn.html) (left) with coachbuilt aluminium-on-timber bodies (constructed by Mulliners for the Rover Company) were bought in September 1953 and a third in November. Contemporary photographs show one of them transporting visiting dignitaries in the snow, fitted with wheel chains all round! Four fire engines were purchased in May 1953, and later photographs show them modified with the addition of lockers and storage space to improve their versatility.
In the mid-1950s, two SWB station wagons were acquired to accompany the Mighty Antar (http://www.4wdonline.com/Thornycroft/Antar.html) road trains that transported heavy equipment from Sydney to construction sites and installations. Another oddity was `The African Queen', a LWB utility stripped of all non-essential fittings and converted to track use on underground rails that ran through one of the tunnels, perhaps hauling carriages filled with workers. Even the steering wheel was removed, so the driver had merely to perform gear selection and operate the brakes!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/08/1420.jpg
By the late 1950s purchasing fell off considerably as the basic exploration and preliminary work had been completed and a road network had developed in the area to service specific worksites. Series II and IIA vehicles were still bought in smaller numbers for performing maintenance and inspection work. Subsidiary services such as Soil Conservation, Fire Prevention and the National Park authorities now made extensive use of them. Up to the arrival of the Series III the SMHEA was still committed to use of the Land-Rover. What is left of this magnificent fleet today? Most were sold off after several years of intensive service and were dispersed far and wide. Some ended up in the hands of contractors involved in the project and thus served two lifetimes worth. The SMA still operates a few Series IIA fire tenders but these are the only Land-Rovers in service. The competition and business interests provided by Toyota in the 1970s proved too strong to resist. Cooma is still a town where one can see a Series I passing by on most days of the week, but naturally all are now in private use. A few vehicles from the old days still languish in a wrecker's yard including chassis number 1 of the RHD Export sequence. And spare a thought for the colourful 80-inch on permanent display in the Snowtels Caravan Park playground - still serving Cooma valiantly after 37 years! These too had their hour.
This article first appeared in the program to the 40th Anniversary Land-Rover Gathering, Cooma NSW, 1988, and appears here with permission of the author: © 1988, A.J.Maeder.
Pictures courtesy of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority

[PAT303]

They also bought 200 Tdi defenders,I don't know how many. Pat

[AndyG]

At the risk of digressing, how the hell did this get organised so soon after WWII, or were there paper plans prior to this.

OR did someone just make a decision and not involve any focus groups or media advisers .:p

[bob10]

At the risk of digressing, how the hell did this get organised so soon after WWII, or were there paper plans prior to this.

OR did someone just make a decision and not involve any focus groups or media advisers .:p


People like Gina weren't involved Bob
:twisted::angel:

[DiscoMick]

1346 LR's,13 Cruisers worked on the snowy. Pat

That's interesting. Does that include both those LRs which were directly used on the Snowy scheme plus those used by associated departments in the area such as forestry and police?

Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

[Beckford]

Except the Simpson Desert and we all know the Patrol did that...

Pat Callinan certainly made that clear in one of his DVD's. :mad:

On TV the other day Pat Callinan was demonstrating how to reverse a 4wd and caravan down a muddy slippery hill completely out of control.

I was confused why he didn't use a winch and perform a safe recovery. :o

[Lotz-A-Landies]

At the risk of digressing, how the hell did this get organised so soon after WWII, or were there paper plans prior to this.

OR did someone just make a decision and not involve any focus groups or media advisers .:pThe Federal Government had a belief in Australia and its newly developed industrial enterprise from the War years.

There was a ready supply of labour from Europe and economic rationalism had not been invented as either a term or philosophy.

[DiscoMick]

I read the D4 report in Pat's mag and he certainly struggles to find anything to criticize. Its a very positive report. Makes me want one even more.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I read the D4 report in Pat's mag and he certainly struggles to find anything to criticize. Its a very positive report. Makes me want one even more.You're not having mine! :mad:

I luv it too much! :p

[DiscoMick]

The Navigator wants to upgrade her Yaris for about $20k. I just have to think of a way to persuade her to accept about $90k for a D4 instead. Won't be easy...

[bob10]

The Federal Government had a belief in Australia and its newly developed industrial enterprise from the War years.

There was a ready supply of labour from Europe and economic rationalism had not been invented as either a term or philosophy.


I wish I had said that, Bob


Building The ‘Snowy’ | Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme | NSW Migration Heritage Centre (http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/newaustralia/building-the-snowy/)


An extract from the links in the article


In 1951 Hein Bergerhausen, a former Luftwaffe pilot, was offered a 2 year contract with the Snowy Mountains Authority. In July he set sail on the MS Skaubryn, a ship chartered by the Authority to transport German tradesmen to Australia. Hein left his wife Sybille and daughter Brigette in Cologne, Germany while he got established in Cooma and they immigrated to Australia the following year.
Hein’s first night in the Mountains in September 1951 was an abrupt introduction to his new life in below freezing conditions. It was even colder than sitting in the cockpit of his Stuka before a winter dawn take-off on the eastern front. The walls of the huts were thin and heaters were considered a fire risk, so were forbidden. The Snowy Mountains Authority had even forgotten to supply blankets so he crawled fully clothed under the mattress and shivered on the wire bed base wondering what he had got himself into. In the morning the day was brilliant sunshine with the most beautiful, cloudless blue sky they had ever seen .

[bob10]

Some more, Bob


Displaced Persons & Assisted Immigration | Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme | NSW Migration Heritage Centre (http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/newaustralia/displaced-persons-assisted-immigration/)

[AndyG]

What was that song in the 80's about working on the Snowy, sung by wogs about wogs, and I certainly don't mean wog in any pejorative sense.

[bob10]

And here we have the official history of the snowy river scheme, Bob


The most telling story is in no 6, about the 1.04 min mark
ANDYG , pat attention. You may just learn something.

The Snowy 1 - The Vision part 1/6 - YouTube


2


The Snowy 1 - The Vision part 2/6 - YouTube


3


The Snowy 1 - The Vision part 3/6 - YouTube


4
The Snowy 1 - The Vision part 4/6 - YouTube


5


The Snowy 2 - The People part 5/6 - YouTube


6
The Snowy 2 - The People part 6/6 - YouTube

[AndyG]

Sadly two screens of blank & I will have to disable the internet filter to allow YouTube later tonight.

Nope , 40 minutes later 6 black boxes, so moving on ...........

[AndyG]

To answer my own question

The settlers Song of the Mountain, by the Cooma Cavaliers, apologies for the digression.

[bob10]

Try this, your tube is as blank as your attitude, Cherfully yours, Bob [ of course no offense meant, old bean.]


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAdTi5I15c#t=17

[AndyG]

Ok, the jungles of PNG are not famous for their internet bandwidth.
Will let it dribble down with luck

[bob10]

Ok, the jungles of PNG are not famous for their internet bandwidth.
Will let it dribble down with luck


Please do Andy, I recommend the story, very illuminating. Bob

[V8Ian]

Thanks Bob, with links like that you can control plus vee til your heart's content.

[AndyG]

I might have to spend a few days there on the way to the air show, at Avalon, a lot to see in the region.

[bob10]

Thanks Bob, with links like that you can control plus vee til your heart's content.i
Ian, don't encourage me, you know I'm a bit of a larrikin, Bob
:p

[V8Ian]

When Neil Armstrong was stepping down the ladder of the lunar capsule and was about to be the first man to step onto the moon he said "one small step of man, one huge leap for mankind" well that's the edited version officially released by NASA. The truth is the unedited version was actually, One small step for man, one huge leap for mankind, **** there are Land Rover tyre tracks all over the place!!!!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-1VtFKiBzo