Coast to Coast The Nullarbor run
The Nullarbor Plain was the final obstacle for our pioneer intercity record breakers.
Prior to the completion of the Trans Australia Railway in 1917 very few adventurers had attempted to traverse the continent in either direction. Even the most superficial contemplation of the desolate Nullarbor Plain was enough to convince most wayfarers that facing ‘mal de mer’ on a steamship across the Great Australian Bight was a better proposition than the risk of ‘doing a perish’ on the world’s largest limestone slab. That the journey had never been attempted without camels did nothing to deter Bert and Fred James who, having run out of luck in the West Australian goldfields in 1897, cycled home to Geelong carrying no more than a puncture kit and the makings for a ‘cuppa’.
Then came the omnipresent outlander Francis Birtles who cycled from Fremantle to Sydney in 1906, shortly after which – accompanied by Syd Furguson – he reprised the same route in his single cylinder Brush to become the first motorist to link the Indian and Pacific Oceans; though it took the best part of April 1912 to complete the crossing. This was considerably longer than John McIntosh’s and Raymond Parer’s effort on an
Indian Powerplus in 1918; though it appears McIntosh and Parer’s remarkable achievement was completely overlooked when, only two years later, they became the first aeronauts to pilot a single engine aircraft – a de Havilland DH9 – from Britain to Australia. In early 1919 John ‘Ironman’ Burton and Tom Smith had reduced the Fremantle to Sydney record to little more than seven days driving a Hupmobile. ‚
This was a full day quicker than PW ‘Percy’ Armstrong and Karl Schiller could manage four years later on their Indian Chief. Only a month later Gil Ford and Charlie Watson left Sydney aboard their 7hp Indian Powerplus and headed home to Perth. Three large spotlights had been fitted to the outfit allowing the pair to ride ‘round the clock’ and, despite innumerable punctures, they arrived in
Perth seven days, eleven hours and twenty nine minutes after departure. Close, but still nine hours shy of ‘Ironman’ Burton’s record.
The next riders to attack the transcontinental record were on a mission to set the longest motorcycle speed record in the world; a 3,825 mile (6,158km) odyssey around the south of Australia from Brisbane to Perth. Having surveyed the route on the long ride east and sharing the latest electrically equipped 74ci Harley Davidson outfit,
E.C. ‘Ted’ Clarke and budding speedway star Len Stewart set out from Brisbane on 10 March 1925 – coincidentally only days after fellow West Australian Arthur Grady passed through Brisbane on his circumnavigation of Australia.
All went exceedingly well for Clarke and Stewart and they were ahead of schedule until, heading for Adelaide, Clarke’s ankle was penetrated by a wooden stake. Clarke’s pain became unbearable and he abandoned the venture somewhere along the Coorong; urging Stewart to push on alone. Despite becoming lost, Stewart eventually reached Adelaide where it was anticipated Clarke would rejoin him for a 3:30pm start on Saturday March 13. However there being no news from Clarke the Motor Cycle Club of
South Australia decreed that the record attempt could continue if a substitute rider could be found. It certainly appeared politically expedient that, with barely an hour’s notice, C.M. ‘Merve’ Moyse, Harley Davidson sales manager for Lenroc – and a well known competition rider – was able to join Stewart for the odyssey across the Nullarbor.
Nine days, seventeen hours and eight minutes after departing Brisbane, Stewart and Moyse arrived in the West Australian capital. Though not before running short of petrol and resorting to a mix of kerosene and petrol, then having to push the big outfit through five miles of sand in 115 degree heat, before taking four hours to ascend the rubble strewn Madura Pass 75 miles west of Eucla.
Despite these problems Harley Davidson claimed no less than six long distance records; Sydney to Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle; plus Melbourne (and Adelaide) to Fremantle. Yet the 6,000 kilometre ride did not capture the ‘coast to coast’ motorcycle record still held by Gil Ford and Charlie Watson. And it was this record from Perth to Sydney that Norm Cunningham, Secretary of the West Aussie Harley Davidson Club, coveted. Cunningham had surveyed the route when he and 15 fellow club members had ridden to Sydney on a
squadron of Harley outfits, taking the best part of two months to do so, and much the same time to return; thus setting what was undoubtedly a world record for a ‘club run’.
With much fanfare the Harley club members had been farewelled by the Mayor of Perth on December 4 1926. Three days later they reached Kalgoorlie, then crossed the vast Lake Lefroy salt pan before striking out along the old telegraph line towards Balladonia. They arrived in Adelaide eleven days after departure before enjoying a further three days being entertained by the South Australian Harley Davidson Club. The celebrations continued all the way to Melbourne, then on to Sydney for a New Year’s Eve party; after which they headed south on the Princes Highway for a further five days rest and recreation in Melbourne. On Sunday February 6 1927 they returned triumphantly to their hometown. Australia’s longest reliability trial was finally over without a single liver malfunction. Cunningham, who had taken detailed route notes, immediately started preparations for his record attempt by having his 10/12 Harley outfit completely overhauled at Mortlock Brothers and fitted with several extra fuel tanks in the sidecar. Barnett Glass would supply the tyres and Shell the lubricants. Norm and his mate Ted Cracknell, escorted by a Mr Hunter of the Police Traffic Department were soon on their way, departing the centre of Perth at precisely 2pm on 27 December 1927. Travelling non stop they reached Kalgoorlie in less than 20 hours but then, instead of adhering to Cunningham’s route notes, unwisely decided to follow the railway line on a ‘service’ track that had long since deteriorated. Forced to take a deviation, they became hopelessly lost. But for a chance encounter with Government Surveyors, who directed them back to the rail line, their attempt may have had disastrous results.
However the track along the rail line proved impossible as Cunningham later reported. “In sheer desperation we lifted the outfit onto the line and drove along over the railway sleepers to see if we could make better headway, but jolting from one sleeper to another would have damaged the machine and even loosened the very flesh from our bones before we had gone many miles, so we were forced to get back into the rough stuff. After we had smashed our chaincase, ripped off the chassis straps, chafed our spare tyre, broken one footrest hanger, and nearly burnt out the clutch, we inspected the map. Finding we had another 400 miles of this to do, and being most desirous of getting to Sydney in six days rather than six weeks, we turned back to Zanthus, taking the detour road down to Balladonia near the coast.”
Now over half a day behind schedule, the pair pressed on and, despite becoming lost in the
notorious Yardea Sands, they reached Port Augusta and the welcome sight of the South Australian Harley Club lads who escorted a weary Cunningham and Cracknell into Adelaide. Despite their backtracking along the Trans Australia Railway they’d broken the old intercity record by 19 hours. From Adelaide they made short work of the Coorong but, even after losing about half an hour for tyre repairs, they reached Melbourne 5 days and 50 minutes after leaving Perth. This was 22 hours quicker than anyone had achieved before, even eclipsing the great Norman ‘Wizard’ Smith’s record set only the previous year in a Studebaker. By comparison, their run from Melbourne to Sydney was a doddle, arriving with a total elapsed time of six days, two hours and 26 minutes having covered 3,144 miles – including the extra distance whilst lost. After a few days relaxing in Sydney they rode back to Perth.
And so ended the last of the great transcontinental rides. The days of motorcycles with sidecars were numbered, the Model ‘T’ Ford was about to be replaced by the imminently more comfortable Model ‘A’, let alone the comfort of a First Class Sleeper on the Indian Pacific, where roast beef and Yorkshire pudding followed by port and cigars had replaced tea and damper. Despite their backtracking along the
Trans Australia Railway they’d broken the old intercity record by 19 hours.