An aged engineer passed on the basic elements of this story. He was grizzled and sunburnt and old when he told me, half a century ago, so it would not be unreasonable to assume that he has ridden his BSA Victor to the sky by now. That’s a shame, because I suspect he would have had a lot more stories. But we were going around the table with our tales, and the next one was from a younger bloke who knew a bit more about the “gross maladministration, negligence and unlawful actions in relation to the (Darling) river’s management” by Commonwealth officials than the Royal Commission let on, and that was interesting too.

我们是一群悉尼和当地摩托车手，坐在梅登在梅林德的梅登酒店庭院里，在内纳威尔士州内蒙德，据说达林河的故事近期和长期以来。较旧的故事往往更有趣，因为在内部NSW中，更加恰好发生了。当我们在20世纪70年代中期进行谈话时，它已经存在了一个水。美国的大吸引力是泥土道路网络，非常适合我们的DT1S，PE250和XL Motosports。是的，我们有一个携带燃料的ute。

But I’ve managed to drift off the topic. Menindee and its surroundings, and especially Kinchega Station – now Kinchega National Park – can serve as a useful lesson in the application of engineering to the Australian Outback.

This country once created a staggering amount of wealth. Back in 1883 when Kinchega Station was at its peak, the property was running 160,000 sheep and employed 73 men. Even today, its 1875 woolshed with its 26 stands is still a prominent feature in the arid surroundings and perhaps the largest woolshed of its type remaining in the Western District.

羊shearing is done much the same way in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, although Australian shearing sheds tend to be larger due to the huge numbers of sheep run by any one station. As with some other aspects of animal husbandry, the difference between the history of Australia and the United States of America is more a matter of scale than anything else. Australia has some 105 million sheep while the US has 5 million. Consider also that the longest cattle drive in the US would have been what… the 620 miles of the Great Texas Trail? Australia’s longest cattle drive was 3000 miles.

纯粹（对不起）行业的大小呼吁在199年中期回到机械化^thCentury. Steamboats on the Darling and Murray rivers competed with bullock teams to transport the wool clip, and in 1882, a bloke called Jack Gray was the first to completely shear a sheep with machine rather than hand-operated blade shears.

早期机械化的另一个例子位于Kinchega Woolshed旁边的内陆阳光下。它的生锈的赫克掩盖了它的精彩故事。作为一个牌匾解释说，'这位旧的“蒸汽牵引引擎”最初是“走动”从墨尔本挖掘地球坦克，以提供股票。然而，它被证明与Bullock Teams的锅炉的锅炉一样昂贵和缓慢，因为它是使用团队自己挖坦克。当燃烧发动机接管时，蒸汽机用于在Kinchega Woolshed中提供机器剪切的电力。“

This English-made Fowler engine was one of three “walked” up from Melbourne together. The process of “walking” involved taking a compass reading on Menindee from Melbourne, and then driving the engines the 500 miles through the bush on that reading. There were no roads, anyway. The crews would chop wood for fuel along the way, and when they reached a major river – there were at least three on this route – a carefully planned process would swing into action.

One of the crew would swim across the river with a light lead line. He would then pull a more substantial cable across along with a block and tackle, which would be fastened to a riverside tree. Fortunately, Australian inland rivers tend to have huge River Red Gums growing next to them. Meanwhile, one of the engines would have its fire put out and be allowed to cool before being attached to the cable and pulled across the river, underwater on the riverbed, by the other two. With its fire relit it would then pull the others across, also suitably cold.

Eventually they would reach Menindee; unfortunately, I have not been able to find out how long it took them. It would have been hard yakka keeping the fireboxes glowing with eucalyptus hardwood.

(Photos The Bear)