Beating About the Bush

Description First published 1976, this is the fifth book from lean Beadell. 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! Lean Beadell, who has been called the last of the true Australia 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 he 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 was awarded the Medal of the order of Australia. The author of six best selling books, he was married with three children, all of whom have features in outback Australia named after them.