Beating about the Bush
By (Author) Len Beadell
New Holland Publishers
New Holland Publishers
1st June 2001
Australia
General
Non Fiction
625.709942
Paperback
192
p>When your grader breaks down in the middle of the desert, there's only one thing you can do - attach it to your bulldozer and tow it back to civilisation./p>p>When your grader breaks down in the middle of the desert, there's only one thing you can do - attach it to your bulldozer and tow it back to civilisation. For Len Beadell's team, that meant a journey of 800 kilometres at three kilometres an hour - the longest towing operation ever in the history of Central Australia. The party hitched up their 'train' and set off back along the road they had just built. But while they were all set for a long and arduous journey, the last thing they expected was for their ration truck to melt. This had its disadvantages but was the best entertainment they'd had for a year!/p>
Len Beadell, who has been called the last of the true Australian explorers,was born on a farm at west Pennant Hills,NSW, in 1923. As a surveyor and road builder he has worked all over the Australian outback from Arnhem Land to the Gibson Desert. In 1958 hes was awarded the British Empire Medal for his work in building the Gunbarrel Highway across Central Australia. in 1987 he was made a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Mining Surveyors (Aust) and the following year he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. Len Beadell is the author of six best-selling books.