By John Maddock

This is the story of the motor truck pioneers who contributed as much to Australian transport history as the mail coaches, riverboats and railways.
Unlike the romance associated with the mail runs of Cobb & Co, the task of the early mail truck drivers in outback areas was lonely and monotonous - at times dangerous.
Making a clutch plate from the base of a 44 gallon drum in the desert ... trapped in mud bogs for nearly a fortnight ... digging trucks out of sand drifts in 50 degree Celsius heat  ... twenty-four hours huddled in a truck cab waiting for sand and dust storms to abate ..... unloading freight and mail into boats to cross flooded rivers ... charging over sandhills after getting up speed by racing around a claypan.
John Maddock knows trucks and the men who handle them.
Birdsville, Yunta, Kapunda, Burra, Thackaringa, Terowie, Wilcannia, Milparinka, Silverton, Maree, Mannahill, Olary, Mingary, Cockburn, Peterborough, Broken Hill, Gumbowie, Port Pirie, Jamestown, Caltowie, Kalabity, Bimbowrie, Mulyungarie, Wilmington, Carrietown, Waukaringa, Teetulpa.
Harry Ding, Tom Kruse.
Leyand Cub, Thornycroft, Albion, Brockway, Dodge, Ford.