Way back in 1973 when I worked for CSIRO (Division of
Wildlife Research) in Darwin, Northern Territory of Australia we were in the
process of carrying out many scientific environmental projects. These projects were evaluating the impact of
certain developments on the region and one of which had been rice farming at a
place called Humpty
Doo.
Rice farming as you no doubt know, involves paddy farming
where the area to be planted gets flooded with water. To do this at Humpty Doo
they built large Levees to contain the water on the Coastal Plains and these
levees filled with water. CSIRO and other coastal plains users needed some type
of transport to use to navigate through, across and on these areas when they
were under water. Back in those days
there was no such thing as Hovercrafts like what is in use today. They simply
weren’t available then in Australia.
The other requirement at that time was some sort of vehicle
that could also be used to reach Humpty Doo as it was 47 Kilometres “down-the-track”
outside of Darwin. The Stuart highway leading to and from Darwin is still
called “the track” even though it is now a wide bitumised highway. In those days it was an open-speed highway
because it was long and straight. These days they have imposed a speed limit of
110 kilometres per hour on it but as no-one is around except for the roadhouse
stops which are a few hundred kilometres apart, it is up to the driver to drive
with extreme care.
Why extreme care?
Simply because when you travel for hours on end non-stop in high
temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius, tyres overheat and blow; or watching
the middle-lines flick past under the vehicle will hypnotise you and make you
feel drowsy; or there could be stones that flick up from a vehicle going the
other way or a Policeman sent out to monitor the speed of the road trains. Or
careless drivers who they will now book for exceeding the speed limit!
The vehicle CSIRO adapted for use was a short wheel based
Toyota that they modified with massive wheels, high exhaust above the cabin and
numerous other adjustments.
Friday 13th
was the day of the great unveiling
The day of the trial
of this adapted vehicle arrived and the media was invited along with all the
high profile business people who had a need for such a vehicle. The N.T
Administrator and his political colleagues arrived dressed in their usual
territory attire of shorts, short sleeved shirt, long socks and well-polished
shoes for the trial. Territory dress code didn’t include the wearing of a tie
in those days simply because it was too hot and too pretentious.
The Administrator and a few of his colleagues hopped into
the adapted-Toyota along with two of CSIRO’s top mechanical adapters and set
off up and then down the levee bank into the large pond of rice paddy.
Everything was working as planned until the vehicle seemed to be getting lower
and then lower in the water.
Soon the doors of the Toyota opened and out swam the five
men leaving the Toyota sinking ever slower into the muddy waters behind them as
they swam for the nearest levee bank.
Naturally all this was caught on film by the media along
with levee banks of laughing people watching Politicians floundering through
muddy water as the vehicle sank out of sight in the background. Territory dress code is perfectly adapted for any
occasion.
Even the best minds in the world often forget the little
things. All that was missing to cause the sinking of the Toyota was closing the
air-vents under the dash.
It was on TV later that day and most of the weekend as Just
another Friday 13th event. Territorians will always love to “take-the-whatsits”
out of their Pollies any chance they get.
