South Yorkshire Times June 29.
3000 Mile Overland Journey In Australia
Conisbrough Man will soon be Off
Since Mr William Breedon, returned home to Conisbrough after 15 years in Australia he has found plenty to do, looking up, old friends, visiting familiar places… and renovating an ex US Army jeep in preparation for a 3000 miles overland journey from Fremantle, Western Australia, to mount Isa, in North West Queensland.
Mr Breedon reckons that during its transcontinental journey, which will take him past Woomera rocket range, he will cover about 1000 miles of hard roads, and a further 2000 miles of sand, gravel and desert scrub. He will be carrying enough fuel to give him a range of 500 miles.
Can’t Risk a Breakdown.
With the help of his stepbrother, Mr Bill Hawkes, Mr Breedon has fitted the jeep with a new engine andhas thoroughly overalled the transmission and 24 V electrical system, because he can’t risk a serious breakdown halfway across the harried treeless wastes of the South Australian Nullabor Plain, for instance, which boasts a stretch of railway line that runs dead straight and dead level for 300 miles!
Said Mr Breedon, this week, “we’ve been working at it on and off for nearly 3 months, and you could say we have completely refitted it.”
He said a good Jeep or Land Rover might cost well over £1000 in Australia – if you were lucky enough to lay your hands on one – whereas this “do it yourself” model had probably cost him about £200.
Prefers it to Flying.
Despite the obvious problems, he prefers the overland journey to flying, because he says it ismore “convenient.”
“You can see much more than if you take just one long hop by air,” he said, adding:
“There are little places along the coast where you can spend a couple of days fishing, for example.”
When he returned home in March, Mr Breedon wasn’t sure whether or not he would return to Australia, but since then he has experienced the worst of an English winter, so it isn’t really surprising that he will be boarding the liner Stratheden in August, bound for Freemantle.
Can be very Lonley.
He had a variety of jobs in Australia, working in the gold mines, steelworks, on a wheat farm and on various cattle station.
“I should get my old job in the Mount Icy Coppermine’s back again, but if I don’t I might go back into the Bush,” he said.