Old Patrol relives historic journey

Siblings Margaret and Doug Sprigg are no strangers to the Simpson Desert, the remote region in central Australia that embraces parts of South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Their first experience was in 1962 when, riding as young passengers with their geologist father Reg Sprigg and his wife Griselda in a G60 Nissan Patrol, they went into the history books as the first motorists to make the hazardous crossing.

Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of the original journey, brother and sister have repeated the feat – again in a G60 Patrol, even though they had the opportunity to do the trip in the comfort of a current-model Patrol.

Backed up by two 3.0-litre diesel ST Patrols and two special-purpose camper trailers, the duo traversed the 437km trip from Dalhousie Springs in South Australia to Birdsville in the south west corner of Queensland. They took four and a half days to complete the journey, at significantly higher speeds than their parents in 1962, who managed to average just 5km/h.

Today’s track, which is known as the French Line after it was established by a French oil company two years after the Spriggs in the late 1960s, was a fair bit more comfortable, though still a major challenge.

The route included driving over the notorious “Big Red” sand dune 34km west of Birdsville - a feat they had never tried as drivers before and easily accomplished by the elderly Patrol in view of a crowd that had gathered to watch the feat. At their insistence, Marg and Doug made the crossing without any special luxuries to honour the original feat.

According to Doug Sprigg it was a “Dream trip. I was confident that we wouldn’t have any trouble,” he said, even though he is familiar with many 4WDs coming through his Arkaroola workshop that have not been treated so kindly by the elements.

The adventure was celebrated at a special Saturday night outback concert starring James Reyne and Daryl Braithwaite, while on the next day Marg and Doug witnessed the unveiling of a cairn at the edge of Birdsville recognising the pioneering achievements of their parents, as well as their own re-enactment.

Today, Marg and Doug run the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary which was founded by their parents in the late 1960s.