'Recollections of a Mail carrier. ' ( UPDATE )

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UPDATE: It's a small world...:"Matthew parkin writes:" My father used to drive for Len Tuit in 1947, also climbed Ayer's rock at that time and has some cracking pictures of an International they used which had a Gardner 5 cylinder -probably the same one. How does one get a copy of the booklet?"
EARLIER: This photo is from truckdriver Ron Dingwall's manuscript about the early times of Australia's longest mail run. We think Ron's work needs publishing, but for that you first have to persuade Ron Dingwall about the necessity of that.... In those times he was better known as Ron 'The Horse'. Up to the day of his marriage his bride thought 'Horse' was his family name. The first roadtrain transports were realised by Afghan drivers making use of import camels. In the twenties custom built crude contraptions began to take over the long and hazardous Darwin-Alice Springs-Adelaide run; roughly 2100 miles of dust & mud depending the time of the year. Ron Dingwall was there early enough to have met and worked with pioneers like Kurt Johannsen and 'father of tourism' Len Tuit. Kurt Johansen built the above prewar 'special' made out of old truck parts and during the lifespan of the mail-truck even added some sort of cabin. The crude contraption was engined by a 'silver anniversary' Buick car engine coupled to 2 gearboxes. Ron Dingwall was among the first ten or so to climb Ayer's Rock in 1950. It is very hard to catch the dry desert atmosphere of the manuscript (clic) in a few lines. But clic the photo for a view on Ron's 1938 International hi-speed Bullet Express mail truck, nicknamed 'The Horse' and read the better bit on the next page...

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