In our folks time every day was an eye opener as the Empire Games came to town, television let alone colour television was progressing , you and your mates didnt have to build your own home as Plunkett and Pacesetter came forth to do it for you,you could go to the loo indoors, you could have a keg with beer on tap at home,everybody could have a telephone, drive ins and all sorts of new contraptions were advertised on TV and man was looking to space. One man, Donald Campbell had set a land speed record on Lake Eyre South Australia in his Bluebird car and was looking to do the same on some gobbledygook name lake down south in Western Australia on New Years Eve 1964 with all the world watching. The K7 was railed across to Kalgoorlie and a local truck owner from Dumbleyung transported it to town storing it overnight at the local Police Station. After the World Record it was taken to Perth and placed on show at Crawley Bay which is one place I am aware of. The West Australian was to herald the achievement New Years Day as Donald Campbell became the first man to achieve both the land and water speed records in one calendar year with just hours to spare flashing across Lake Dumbleyung at 276 miles per hour. The town of Dumbleyung is celebrating 50 years since Donald Campbells 1964 World Record with events and the unveiling of the K7 MK19 replica just after Wagin on the Wagin-Dumbleyung Road. I would jump in now for accommodation and tickets as this is the place to be this New Years Eve. Make it a fun long weekend checking out the beautiful country towns of Dumbleyung, Wagin, Kojonup,Katanning, Narrogin for example. A very attractive website has all the details for you such as this snippet from the day in 1964 from Justin Bowen We floated 20ft x 20ft rafts on 44 gallon drums for support crew at each end of the three mile stretch and because curvature of the earth prevented vision from one end to the other at water level and so crew could take sight to line up Bluebird on course before each run. We made up 20ft x20ft banners from orange dyed wheat bags stretched over steel frames and floated these on 500 gallon fuel drums, with their bases being 20ft above water. dumbleyungbluebird.au/ Can you imagine how breath taking times would have been back in the day kids?
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 02:57:13 +0000
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