A History of Road Trains in the Northern Territory 1934-1988
Transportation History Australian History Automotive Engineering Technology History Road Transport Outback Australiana Photographic Chronicle
A History of Road Trains in the Northern Territory 1934-1988 is the only comprehensive photographic chronicle of how giant “landships” opened up Australia’s vast Top End. In 175 heavily-illustrated pages, author John Maddock—an outback operator himself—traces the leap from the first home-built Bedford/Morris “trainettes” of 1934 to the 130-ton, 50-metre modern monsters that now carry cattle, fuel and ore along the Stuart, Barkly and Victoria highways. Kangaroo Press printed this 1988 first edition in Australia for transport enthusiasts, historians and young adults who want more than a coffee-table book: every chapter is anchored by first-hand interviews, period workshop diagrams and rare colour plates of rigs such as the Foden 8-axle, the Kenworth K125 and the legendary “Bulletin” AEC.
What makes this copy especially collectible is its clean, tightly-bound condition and the abundance of previously unpublished images—over 200 photographs sourced from trucking families, Shell, BP and the National Road Transport Hall of Fame. Maddock documents not only the machines but the people: Indigenous drivers, cattle-station mechanics and the engineering teams who hand-built the triple-axle dollies that turned dirt tracks into economic lifelines. Readers discover how road trains halved freight costs to Darwin, spurred the development of the Adelaide-Darwin route and became symbols of Territory identity.
For collectors of Australian transport history, this paperback is a scarce stand-alone reference; no later reprint or e-book edition exists. The single neat name inscribed on the front endpaper is unobtrusive and affirms the book’s provenance without detracting from the pages or illustrations. Whether you’re hunting for nostalgic outback photography, reliable technical data on early B-double configurations, or a culturally significant gift for a truck-mad teenager, A History of Road Trains in the Northern Territory 1934-1988 delivers authentic Australiana you can still slip into a glovebox or display on a bookshelf.
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