ACROSS AUSTRALIA

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6438, 15 January 1924, Page 3

ACROSS AUSTRALIA

AN AMAZING ADVENTURE

FACING DEATH

Two young men—the leader not yet 25 years of age—and his mate barely a year older—recently arrived in Sydney, after accompishing one of the most remarkable expeditions in the history of Australian exploration, the story of which is now made public for the first time.

Starting but from Winton, in Western Queensland, early last year, in a second-hand Ford* car, with a homemade trailer, they reached Broome, on the north-west coast of Western Australia, in October last, after nine months hard battling with the trackless wilderness of the Northern - Territory.

Their adventure was nearly brought to a tragic finish when, in the waterless region just over the Territory border in Western Australia they run out of benzine and water, and had prepared for death when they were rescued.

It appears that Mr Terry—who has not yet reached his 25th birthday—is a born adventurer. He left home when he was 14. As soon as he was able, he joined the Armoured Car Corps, and was sent to Russia. With a number of others he was captured by the Bolsheviks. He escaped later, and was then invalided out to Australia. Here he found employment as a motor mechanic, but was always restless.

It was at the latter end of 1922 that he first thought of crossing the Northern Territory by car. He found a mate, Richard Yockney, who promised to go with him. They bought a worn-out car, re-built it and left Winton; —their “mad idea” freely ridiculed, by the people there —in February of last year. “TERRITORY A VALUABLE ASSET” .

“The Northern Territory,” Mr Terry said to a Sun interviewer, “is a much more ‘normal* place than most people imagine. lam quite sure that when communications are made this will prove y a valuable asset to Australia, and will eventually be one of the most thickly settled portions of the continent. The soil on the route we travelled is black and rich, and in other places the country seems to have very valuable mineral deposits.” “WE NEARLY PASSED OUT”

Asked how he felt after, the trip, Terry said, “Fine!” “Of course, we were extraordinarily lucky,” he said. “At many places a simple breakdown would have meant certain death, as we were only able to carry a few spare parts and no heavy ones. We took a big chance and won. We nearly ‘passed out* when the water and the benzine ran out together, and we lost our way. We both thought it was all up, but our luck stood—and here we are.

“I should say that we covered 3000 miles in all. It is difficult to gauge the exact distance, as much of the country is unexplored, and there are no roads or proper river crossings, necessitating many d&tours. We had no proper maps—none were available. Most of the time we depended upon sketches pencilled on old scraps of paper by an old-timer whom we met. And I must say they were wonderfully accurate. We tried an official map for part of the trip, and found, that in a couple of instances it showed the rivers flowing the wrong way! “It there are any more stunts like this to be done, I’d like to ‘give them a burl’,” Terry added. “I carry all my belongings in a couple of handbags, and can set out at a few minutes’ notice.”

Richard Yockney is also of a wandering nature. He spent a few years on the sea, and had just made up his mind to settle on the land in Queensland, when he. met Terry.