OVERLAND PATROL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20708, 4 May 1929, Page 19

OVERLAND PATROL.

' ACROSS AUSTRALIA. LONELY WORK. (From Our Own Courksfondknt.) '' SYDNEY, April 2u. Tire search for the Southern Cross and, later, for tlig ill-fated plane 'that contained Anderson and . Hitchcock, whoso death ’is ‘ being moimred: throughout the Commonwealth 'to-day, has. done more to bring into the limelight the conditions that prevail in. Central Australia' than anything else in'recent-years. Day after day the newspapers hav.e been describing the land over which so many planes have' been flying, and in-this, .way thousands of readers have almost unconsciously soaked up a great deal of knowledge, that should be theirs in any. case. For. after all is said and done, Australians know very little of the great country in which they live — a great and marvellous expanse of land with , possibilities: almost 'undreamed of.' Take-for instance, the “ overland ” that link's the northern and southern ends of the continent. This-line has figured daily in the news relating to Anderson. An epic conh! be written about it. For every inch of this unique telegraph is patrolllcd continuously by linesmen—hardy. men who think nothing of riding 100 miles to repair a breakdown—men who sling a couple of tins-of 'valor astride their horse, take a few pack horses with them, summon a black, and set off into, no-man’s land, that trackless area as barren‘of white population as-are the snows of the Antarctic. : Still, from ■ all accounts, the land is of .over-varying interest. It is far less desert than is popularly, supposed. Yes. There aVe six telegraph stations in-the 2100miles, and at-each of tlujsc. stations-the officers' breed stock. The Postal Department encourages .this stock raising, .so .that the men at the lonely outposts might have something to occupy their minds when work is slaeki Tho stock is_ the property of .the. department, and -proper stock books, showing the increases ami decreases in the herds, with' the number of killings—for the men, are allowed to slaughter their own meat—are kept. Surplus stock is sold, arid tlie-revenue goes to the department. To each station are attached three blacks, who assist in'the stock work. . . ' '

The blacks are also.inva.lu.nblc for patrol work. When the linesman, setr out on bis patrol—the stations are from 140 to 180 miles apart—bo takes with him a black, and he patrols half the distance- to the next station.. Without a black this would be impossible, as a white man could not find bis way, or water, once but of ..sight of the line. The,. Commonwealth ami the South Australian Governments' arc now sinking a number of tanks at ‘JO-mile intervals along a great portion of the route. Anywhere between Tennant’s Creek and Powell’s Crceck—both places prominently mentioned in the search for Anderson—water can. bo'.found 1- by sinking up to lijO feet, and windmills arc erected that keep the tanks, or dams, filled. The telegraph operator who goes for service on the overland service generally three years; after Which he is given three months’/bblidayt' It is the policy of the department not to keep men thore any longer than can be helped; but -something in the air of these empty spaces and. great distances seems to get into (he blood of many of tbc men. One man lias beeii on the route for 20 years, and nothing will shift him. He says he.hates the cities.'