Jeep In Australia

First Across The Snowy Mountains

A Woman of the High Country

Elyne Mitchell (1913-2002), author of The Silver Brumby novel and numbers of non-fiction works, lived most of her life at Towong Hill in the Upper Murray. Her life was profoundly influenced by the nearby Snowy Mountains which in turn shaped her writing. Elyne Mitchell is best remembered for her Silver Brumby series of children's novels.
Mitchell's work focused on the Snowy Mountains, including the Main Range, the Cascades and other areas which she popularised in the Silver Brumby series. She wrote of the mountains as being for her a symbol of 'a profound belonging to the Australian land'. In non-fiction books like Australia's Alps, Speak to the Earth and Towong Hill, Mitchell evoked a powerful sense of place. Her deep love of the mountains, the Upper Murray, station life and nature are central themes in much of her work. Her relationship with nature evolved over time as seen in several of her works.
Mitchell was a champion skier internationally; she skied the Snowy Mountains whenever she could. She did many significant exploratory ski journeys in the Snowies in the 1930s-40s and was the first woman to ski parts of the steep western faces. She skied until she was 77.
Horses were an important element in Mitchell's rural life as well as her fiction, and she made many long rides through the mountains as well as helping run Towong Hill cattle station.
Elyne Mitchell's adventurous spirit is reflected in the 1948 trip she did with husband Tom and two companions when they drove a Jeep across the Snowies - the first vehicle crossing of the mountains.
Source; National Museum of Australia

'Iris' the Jeep in which Elyne, Tom, Bill Littlejohn and Ossie Rixon crossed the Snowy Mountains in 1948, located today at the Corryong Museum.



The Making of the Woomera Rocket Range and Outback Exploration with Len Beadell.
Len Beadell, who has been called the last of the true Australian explorers; was most well known as a surveyor and road builder. He has worked all over the Australian outback from Arnhem Land to the Gibson Desert. Famous for building the Gunbarrell Highway and other remote tracks through central Australia he and his team were called upon to build roads, plan town sites and survey the test launching areas around what was to become the Woomera Rocket Range. Most known for driving Series 1 Land Rovers, Len also used the Army Jeep for most of his work around the Woomera range. Driving through muddy bogs and up huge sand dunes the Jeep played an integral part in Lens work at Woomera. Lens tales and adventures can be found in his series of books Too Long In The Bush, Blast In The Bush, Blast In The Bush, Still In The Bush, Beating About The Bush, Outback Highways and End Of An Era, all written by Len Beadell.

These images from Len Beadells Still In The Bush.


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