Thread: Simpson Desert in the mid sixties

Thanks for doing this. Great stories. You must be a couple of years older than me but a much better memory. If I put a spanner down to do something else I cant find it again.

Keith

Originally Posted by 123rover50

Thanks for doing this. Great stories. You must be a couple of years older than me but a much better memory. If I put a spanner down to do something else I cant find it again.

Keith

Sorry, Keith. What did you say?

Operations rapidly became routine, and before long we had to move the camp further east. This was only a relatively short distance, but we were in that camp for quite some time. After the first field break, roughly six weeks from our arrival, there were several significant changes. The first of these was the replacement of all the AB120 utilities with Trayback FJ45s or in one case an FJ40 ragtop. From memory, some of these retained the standard 7.50x16 tyres. A second change was the second crew was mobilised. They used caravan accommodation, with several vans about 35' long with fold-out walls to expand to triple width rather than tents. This made them far less mobile, as these caravans needed the bulldozer to tow them across the sandhills, so their camp remained more or less in one location, in the NW of the survey are. With two crews now operating, the bulldozing contractor changed, and significantly, this brought a supervisor (Artie Hearn) to the two line clearing operations who had his own aeroplane, and used it to commute between locations.

He built an airstrip for his use a few sandhills over from our Camp 2, and I began to learn a little about aircraft, leading to my starting to learn to fly towards the end of the year. His idea of an airstrip for his Auster was "one blade wide, and 100yds long".

On one occasion I had gone to his airstrip near camp2 to await his arrival from the other crew. Looking back towards our camp, I was alarmed to see a column of black smoke. By the time he had arrived it had died down. When I got back to camp, I found that our survey FJ40 had been burnt out, just out of camp. What had happened was as follows.

Leaving camp after breakfast they stopped at the fuel dump, and filled both tanks with a hand drum pump. Now unlike Rover, which put the fuel tanks under the seat, but external to the body, the FJ Toyotas had the tanks inside the body under the seats. Like Rover, they had a rubber hose from the filler to the tank, and in these vehiclles, since there were two tanks, there was a changeover tap on the floor between the seats plumbed with plastic tubing. Also, unlike the Rover setup, which has a suction pipe entering the top of the tank, the outlet on the Toyota tanks is on the bottom.

It seems that one of the filler hoses had a leak, and there was a small pool of petrol on the floor of the vehicle after refuelling. The survey helper, in the left hand seat, being careful was not smoking while refuelling, but he lit up as soon as they were clear of the fuel dump. He then waved his match between his legs to extinguish it - with spectacular results. The helper bailed out (they were still in first gear), and was uninjured, to be followed moments later by the surveyor. They used the vehicle's fire extinguisher, but to little effect, as by now the plastic fuel lines were burnt through and the (full) tanks were supplying a steady flow of fuel to the fire. They, and several helpers from camp, used several other extinguishers before resorting to shovelling sand. The surveyor rescued all the survey equipment, but failed to recover the previous week's survey notes, The vehicle was completely destroyed by the fire. The front tyres did not catch fire but were badly damaged by heat. As far as I am aware the remains are probably still there.

While we were still in Camp 1, we had an interesting visitor. This was Reg Sprigg, one of the pioneers of the oil industry in Australia. He was a bit miffed, I understand, that Amerada had awarded this geophysical contract to our company rather than his own geophysical contractor. Nevertheless, when he had come in his company plane to visit the drilling of McDills No 1 about 50 miles from our camp, he borrowed a Landcruiser from the drilling company, and drove with his pilot to visit us. He then, being armed with a 16mm movie camera, had the poor pilot (Colin Semmler) repeatedly drive the borrowed Landcruiser down the slip face of the large dune next to the camp - an activity that would have been a firing offence for any of our lot!

Remember, this was when the Landcruiser was just beginning to get established on the Australian scene, and he was promoting them - and I think wanted some spectacular footage, perhaps to sell it to Toyota, or perhaps to get a good bargain for purchases for his companies. I don't know if the drilling contractor knew about this activity in their vehicle.

When we moved into this survey, it had not rained for more than ten years in that area. At Andado, Mac Clarke's 10 year old son had never seen rain. So, of course, within weeks of our starting operations, it rained. This did not really affect our operations, but made things a lot easier - even slightly damp sand is a lot easier to drive on. And the desert changed colour. It went from red to multicoloured within days. Many of the desert plants germinate, grow and flower in just a few days. It was spectacular.

Our third camp was in just about the most isolated part of the desert, about 60km SE of Geosurveys Hill. Water supplies came from Dakota Bore, in the 6x6 water truck, about one trip per week. The driver would leave immediately after an early breakfast (breakfast bell 0700), and would usually be back before the generator was shut off about 2200.

Supplies came from Alice about once a month on the supply truck, eventually fitted with a petrol driven freezer about 1.5cu.m. These supplies were mainly meat and tinned vegetables etc, with some more durable vegetables such as potatoes, gas bottles (lpg for cooking and oxygen and acetylene for the mechanic). These were supplemented a bit less than than weekly by a light aircraft (usually C206) flight to a claypan near the camp, with mail, urgent parts, and fresh fruit and vegetables, and sometimes personnel. On the occasion of one of these flights, I had an interesting experience.

We were using a claypan about 10m SE of the camp, not close enough for someone to leave camp when the plane came over the camp, as that was nearly 45m driving in those conditions, and they would not land if there was no vehicle on the claypan to be sure the pilot had the right claypan. Remember no GPS, no detailed maps, no EPIRBs - finding the right claypan was a matter of time and bearing from a recognisable landmark.

While I was waiting one day for the plane (by myself), I spotted a large, black, animal on the other side of the claypan. It appeared to be the size of a large dog. I equipped myself with a jack handle, and slowly started to approach it. It froze as I started towards it. As I got close enough for my binocular vision to accurately estimate distance, and hence size (about 10m) it sort of suddenly came into focus and I immediately identified it as a normal sized black cat. At that moment, it probably identified myself as a threat, and bolted back over the sandhill.

This was not the only time we found some unexpected fauna. Somewhere around the same time, the drilling supervisor was returning from the other crew well after dark. When a strange small animal froze in the headlights he stopped, hopped out and grabbed it, putting it in a convenient cardboard box he happened to have in the FJ45. When he arrived in camp, about half a dozen of us examined it to try and identify what he had found. It was finally identified with some certainty as a very small and young rabbit.

It became a pet around the camp, where it was free to roam for several weeks, presumably happy to have food and water.

Our mess tent had the sides of flymesh only. With the lights on for several hours every night, it attracted large numbers of moths, and resulted in there being each morning a sort of windrow of dead or nearly dead moths at the foot of all four walls each morning. Much to our surprise, the rabbit could be found every morning going round eating a selection of moths.

Unfortunately, it was only with us for a few weeks. One night it disappeared. A search for it the next morning failed to find any traces of it - but did find dingo tracks.

Another story about these moths. I had on the crew for a few weeks an Irishman to be taught the duties of his field office position before going to another crew. The night before his departure, he produced a bottle of Irish whisky he had been saving for a special occasion, and he and a Dutch office bloke (Fred) started to celebrate his imminent departure. After everyone else had gone to bed they got hungry after midnight, and raided the kitchen. While the Irishman was looking through the freezer for steaks, Fred fired up the stove and started to heat some oil in a frypan. Unfortunately, they had failed to close the kitchen door, and there was a light right above the stove, so he soon had a pan full of frying moths. And told his friend not to worry about the steak. Fred had spent his formative years as a child in a concentration camp in Java, and was quite used to eating insects, and his friend had had enough whisky to be happy to try them.

Next morning there was a reckoning. The cook was not at all happy about the state of his kitchen, Fred had a hangover, and so did his friend - made worse by his memory of what he had eaten for a late supper. And the whisky bottle was empty. This was one of the factors pushing me towards a dry camp.

I like a palate cleansing ale (perhaps better than most), but I have also experienced 'Wet' and 'Dry' work camps. Give me a 'Dry Camp', any day!

Apparently 10m and 10m are vastly different lengths.

Originally Posted by Saitch;[URL="tel:3254181"

3254181[/URL]]I like a palate cleansing ale (perhaps better than most), but I have also experienced 'Wet' and 'Dry' work camps. Give me a 'Dry Camp', any day!

Indeed. Wet camps can be a powder keg. I’ve been open about my drinking, but I much preferred the dry camp also. Easier to survive.

Said it before, around your experience with Series cars, and I will say it again now. You would be doing everyone a great service by writing a book or two. I know I’d buy one. Some of my favourite books are written about the development of Australia. You were, are a part of that story, John.