How many towns of 4000 people

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Originally Posted by Tank

Lot's of Bauxite which is the Ore that Aluminium is made from.
I was the first to operate the Crusher at Gove after commissioning in the late sixties, also worked on the Conveyor, Stacker and Shiploader.
Wallaby Beach was the main camp back then, Nhulunby was only just starting to be built.
Less than a dozen Women and over 5000 blokes back then, Poon bros. food, 2 cot dongas and the Wet Canteen, what a life, I think the saying "Going Troppo" originated at Wallaby beach.
Money was good though, $2.40 to $2.70/hour, min. 60 hours a week, Zone A tax allowance, food and board all found, + $120/week severance and living away, paid in lump sum at end of contract (6 months).
I imagine it would be a bit more civillised now.
How about some pics from you Goveites, I'll see if I can find some I took while up there, Regards Frank.

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Thanks for that Tank. How many Land Rovers back then? Probably on those at Yirrkala with the Mission I would guess.

Check out Derek's (dm_td5) flickr page in his signature for a few photos.

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Originally Posted by Stuuu

Thanks for that Tank. How many Land Rovers back then? Probably on those at Yirrkala with the Mission I would guess.

Check out Derek's (dm_td5) flickr page in his signature for a few photos.

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Dale, there were a few there, mostly private ones bought in on the barge, a mate and I were going to buy a Series II and drive out when our time was up, but some bloke who attempted to do so was never seen again. Found his car, Toyo I think, so cops closed the road, or what there was of it. Then we were going to fly out in another mates Cessna, till on it's maiden flight the engine fell out while taxiing, sort of turned me off small planes, I'm still searching for the photos, will post up if I find them, Regards Frank.

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Originally Posted by Stuuu

who are also over 1000kms by road from the nearest Land Rover dealer (on a road that is impassable 6-8 months of the year!) would have:

1 X Series 2
2 X Series 3
11 X 110 ( 1 County, 3 X 300tdi, 3 X TD5, 3 X Puma - soon to be 4 Pumas in Jan)
2 X 130
8 X D1
6 X D2
and a RR

as their Land Rover contingent?

Thought it was a decent list when I added it up!

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1000 k's from a dealer:o

Impassable roads:o

Not surprising that the Land Rover contingent is quite substantial - and growing by all accounts;)

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Originally Posted by Tank

Dale, there were a few there, mostly private ones bought in on the barge, a mate and I were going to buy a Series II and drive out when our time was up, but some bloke who attempted to do so was never seen again. Found his car, Toyo I think, so cops closed the road, or what there was of it. Then we were going to fly out in another mates Cessna, till on it's maiden flight the engine fell out while taxiing, sort of turned me off small planes, I'm still searching for the photos, will post up if I find them, Regards Frank.

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Frank, I've heard the story of the guy going missing from another of the early starters here.

Have you ever been back since you left?

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Originally Posted by Barra1

Not surprising that the Land Rover contingent is quite substantial - and growing by all accounts;)

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It seems to have stifled a little in the last 6 months but for the last few years there was a small increase.

This would make a better story if I could remember the Island(s). But in my sailing days I remember a few Islands where practically every vehicle was an old Land Rover. It would have been in the Caribbean or South Atlantic.
Kenley

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Originally Posted by kenleyfred

This would make a better story if I could remember the Island(s). But in my sailing days I remember a few Islands where practically every vehicle was an old Land Rover. It would have been in the Caribbean or South Atlantic.
Kenley

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Thanks. You could say:

Land Rovers: once seen - never forgotten.

Carribean Islands - well they all look the same after a while :D

Hard to go past aluminium bodywork where salt water is present though.

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Originally Posted by dm_td5

Frank, I've heard the story of the guy going missing from another of the early starters here.

Have you ever been back since you left?


It seems to have stifled a little in the last 6 months but for the last few years there was a small increase.

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No I haven't been back since, I always intended going back, I was offered a job by one of the high ups from Nabalco. I designed a flapper curtain for the conveyor chutes because the Bauxite was building up on the back wall of the chutes where one conveyor dropped onto the next. They (Nabalco) tried everything, even coating the back of the chutes with Teflon, that lasted about 15 minutes. My idea was simple, a pipe across the top of the chute with an old piece of conveyor belt hanging down like a curtain, when the Bauxite hit the curtain it would flap about and dislodge any Bauxite that stuck to it's surface. Worked great, we had to continually shut down the plant and get into the secondary crusher to surge bin chutes with a bloody jackhammer and unclog them, rather hot in there, anyway it saved us busting our boilers a couple of times a day and the bosses thought I was a genius.
Looking at the Google maps you can still see where the Wallaby Beach camp was, the refinery was only just starting to be built and the bosses and families lived at Nhulunby, there wasn't much there then.
I would imagine it would be a lot more comfortable up there now, that Poon bros. food was hard to handle and the accommodation wasn't much better, the outdoor movies at Wallaby were great though, any work for drillers up there at the moment, my Son is heading back over West after Christmas on another drilling job, would have to be better at Gove, still haven't found the pics I took while up there, but the Missus is going to have a look, Regards Frank.

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Originally Posted by Barra1

1000 k's from a dealer:o

Impassable roads:o

Not surprising that the Land Rover contingent is quite substantial - and growing by all accounts;)

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am i the only one here to find this unsuprising..... i mean, you expect anything else to make its way into town under its own power?