A Brush With The Sweeping Plains

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday August 29, 1996

David Berthon

Driving from Darwin to Melbourne in a modern car is arduous enough. In a 1910 single-cylinder car exposed to the elements, the trip is hard going indeed. Veteran car enthusiast Bob Lamond shrugged off the difficulties and took to the road to mark the 70th anniversary of the record-breaking dash between the two cities by Francis Birtles.

Birtles covered the gruelling 5,438 km virtually non-stop through rugged country in eight days and 13 hours. Lamond followed the route, not in a brand new car as Birtles did in 1926, but in an 86-year-old Brush, expecting 20 days on the road.

Birtles used a 12 horsepower (9 kW) Brush when he became the first person to drive west to east across Australia in 1912. Lamond re-enacted the 80th anniversary of this crossing in his Brush in 1992.

Lamond averaged nearly 50 km/h, a good pace for a car without a cooling fan. He took a fortnight to reach Bourke despite a slipping clutch - fixed in Mt Isa - and, after daily stops in western NSW towns, motored the final 101 km from Seymour to the RAC headquarters in Melbourne last Saturday.

The left-hand-drive Brush runabout features wooden axles and coil spring suspension, a two-speed gearbox and chain drive. Designed by Alanson P. Brush, who had an early involvement with Cadillac, the model was built in Detroit between 1907 and 1912.

Its catchline was "the car that sweeps all before it". Humorists turned that into "Wooden frame, wooden axles and wouldn't run".

Francis Birtles, a remarkable adventurer, is seldom acknowledged for his exploits. By horse, cycle and car, he made 88 extended trips around Australia, logging about 800,000 km. Apart from the inaugural Australian crossing, he also made the first overland car trip from Melbourne to London.

A champion long-distance cyclist, he was the first person to cycle across Australia - via Alice Springs.