Mostly land rover action, but also includes winching, fixing tyres, other story details. I cut most of the scenic filming from this one. See the full episode here: • cape york 1972, leylan...
Well these guys inspired a mate and I to give it a go in August 72. We travelled in an 1100 Moke and got to the Jardine. In 74 we took a 1275 Californian Moke across the Jardine on a 44 gallon drum and two airbeds and took it to the top. Our record was being bogged 47 times in one day. We pulled ourselves out with a manual boat winch.
I worked in Bamaga 76-77 and had heard abt the '74 trip in the moke but the story by then was it was made by two female Bamaga primary school teachers. The only outside contact them there days was radio Australia and BPA dc3 once a week into Jacky Jacky airstrip. Little traffic up there then as noted in the vid as each community had only one truck, some teachers their bikes. The DAIA had the work machinery. Permission early in the piece was needed from the Manager to go camping outside of town but was more of a safety issue than anything else. Steve Mckeough, Dave Brennan and myself made a bike trip in Aug '77 down to Cairns from Bamaga which lasted 4 days, the first 30 miles south of the Jardine took 10 hours. The two Kens had dropped Jerry cans off weeks before at what was then known as Cox's camp at 50mile south of the Jardine before Heathlands stn and passed another onto Moreton stn. so we could refuel. We reached Coen on the saturday of the Coen races to hear Elvis Presley had just died. The two Ken's are there in the vid and would go through a ctn of hot stubbies / day when working the line and as they would say would sweat it all out. Kenny Savo of Cody between Red Island point and New Mapoon lost his life to a croc at that PMG crossing showing the two kens in the vid in the early '80's swimming the same PMG dinghy we had used to get the bikes across, back to the other side. The croc was lying there on the bottom of the deepest fastest water on the southern bank of the Jardine. His body after a wide week long search was found by Kenny Cox near to the crossing. They were the best of mates and it broke him. Kenny Savo had a laugh so infectious. It is said that later on when Kenny Cox retired to Smithfield in Cairns with his family, he went to the local one night shouted a round for the whole bar and went home and died in his sleep the same night. They're all gone now and sadly missed.
Hi Tiger ! Mate, I really have VERY high admiration for your 72 and 74 trip. I too am a 'Moker' have been since about 1980 and still am today. I've been up the Cape in my Moke with 2 other Mokin' mates in 2012, a 'breeze' compared to your trips !!!! Our Moke Club went up in 82 and it was the trip from hell for them, they made it through somehow but everything that could go wrong, did ! Any photos from your trips ?
Videos from that era where straight to the point and without all that "Macho" bullshit you see these days. No more than commercials disguised as 4x4 trips. Thanks for the upload.
@@franksandbeans2519 These are part time 4x4. So no need for a centre diff and by extension diff lock. I believe it is the lack of cross axle lockers that is the miracle.
@@barneybarret6088 Good Point. I was thinking too new. Eg: Defenders. Damn LR series still kicked along nicely though. Would have loved to see a Range Rover do the same trip.
It was because of this film/expedition way back in 1972 that as a 10yo child I was so captivated by this trip that after I left the RAAF in 1987 I moved to Brisbane and bought my first 4x4. in 2001 a 1987 4.2ltr petrol LWB Nissan Patrol. And in 2004 I travailed up the cape with the Queensland Nissan Patrol club. I have lived the dream. Thank you so much to the Leyland brothers for the inspiration you gave us up and coming explorers...
I disagree mate, i bought 2 fj cruisers 2012 and a 2017 both bog stock with atrs on it made it up there in comfort the whole way. No problems, still driven every single day. Since new. Neither of them have missed a beat.
Totally agree mate, the modern Land Rovers are so unreliable you wouldn’t dream of going off tarmac, it’s a real shame. Unfortunately it’s all about looks and that’s the target market “Chavs”.. Still miss my series 2A..😢
I grew up watching these legends on a Sunday nite at 630 while Mum cooked and Dad sat on the lounge drinking beer fast track 40 years later it’s me on the lounge with the kids streaming it to the TV. The sense of adventure is timeless 👍
exactly - I remember in the early 80's watching these on I think Channel 7 on a Saturday night, and also the Malcolm Douglas specials, and I also when i was maybe 12-13 went to a local theater to watch the Albi Mangles movie....Best memories....
Did the same trip in a '58 model Land Rover back in 1975. Yep...rough as guts and quite a challenge for three 18 year old fellas. Getting across the Jardine took all day and we were croc bait most of the time. What an experience and the old Rover made it up n back no worries. Very different to what it is today
Did a main leaf in the suspension heading into Cooktown...it was quite a rough road back then. Otherwise, from what I remember, all went well. Amazing the punishment that vehicle endured
Pioneers. Inspired my dad to take our family up to the Cape in 1978. Drove across the Jardine River. Camped near the Tip probably where the carpark is now. No sign marking the Tip back then.
My wife, our 10 year old son and I ventured up that track way back in 1984 in our short wheel base Toyota. It really was a track back then. One river crossing consisted of a raft made up of 44 gallon drums - one vehicle at a time pushed by as many volunteers who were game enough to go in with the crocodiles!
So where can I find a woman as tough as these lasses that would even start such a raw adventure? I guess the dodo bird isn't the only thing that's extinct! Marvelous home movies, loved every moment!
Classic l grew up watching the Leyland brothers anything we did that was bush orientated was called doing a Leyland still is today ...along with Malcom Douglas these guys were the ultimate adventure people ...true Aussie legend's.....
This show and other adventurers are pretty-well responsible for the popularity of the whole 4wd movement in Australia. My favourite show when I was a kid.
We caught up with the Leyland family a couple of times, the Coorong and Yorke Peninsula in South Australia when we were kids holidaying with our family, 1975
Love seeing these nostalgic episodes, and seeing what it was like then. I wasn't even born when they did this trip. It was amusing to learn that in 1972, winches weren't even available to buy off the shelves, as well as tyre puncture repair kits we have now. Goes to show how we 4WDers got it easy now. Thanks for sharing.
@ 12:35 mark. With these deadly Red Back spiders there is no point in taking any risks.... pan to a guy in short-shorts, no socks and tennis shoes. Yea Mate!
Yeh...dullard 4WD programs yapp yapping on the 2way as they drive in ultra comfort with every luxury and form of technology...always wearing throngs cos they're never gonna stray far from their security blankets. Cmon.... let's get back to real adventure...and not Bear Grylls crap
@@mark2073 Sure...go ahead and use it.Enjoy the experience. But please don't compare it to the challenges of very basic equipment, mechanics and knowing where the hell you are and so forth. Maps were inaccurate, roads generally non-existent, asking for prior experience in these regions, safety support.... You gotta give due credit to those who did it under these early conditions. Without them, where's the excitement? My mates and I were 18 when we travelled to the tip of Cape York in 1975 in our 1958 Land Rover. Very different to doing the same trip today. There's an improved road, a car ferry, roadhouses, loads of other people doing the same trip, satellite communications.... So glad we could do it in 75. What a trip we had
@@intricacy9490 I agree totally, I lament every time a road is paved. Not just because of the loss of adventure but because of all the new people and "development" it brings in. I drove the San Felipe (Baja California) road south many times decades ago, man that was quite an amazing adventure through the Mexican desert. Now it's paved as of last year. It washes out every now and then, I can only hope that funding dries up and the bridges don't get repaired, that will keep the tourists away. I'm fixing up a 1982 BJ60 and I will disconnect as much electrical as possible, making it fully manual. But I'll still have high tech accessories like GPS. And lockers although they aren't really high tech. If the tech is available I say use it, but set up the vehicle and trip so it doesn't depend on it.
Back in the Day, the Brothers lived in Dumaresq Street, Newcastle so not far from our High School. Our family had enjoyed the weekend lifestyle that Land Rovers could offer since the mid Sixties so I distinctly remember walking past the Brother's garage and seeing these two Landys being prepared for this epic adventure. The stand out feature was the cut out mudguards and huge tyres which were a memorable sight for a schoolboy back then.
I just did a rego check on AYI077 it come back still registered as a 1989 WHITE LAND ROVER 110 SERIES Some one got hold of the plates, and is keep the dream alive.
They done this trip in 1972 I think. In The first of the series 3 and series 3a landrovers from 1970 to 1980. 1980 to 1983 stage 1 v8 109 inch. 110 started in 1983
My dad bought a lwb safari Landover back in the seventies. It had a straight six Perkins and we could just keep up with the lorry's on the motorway. I remember it had a double skinned roof and a manual cruise control mounted on the dash. I sat in the middle as a six year old and put the cruise control on full going down the A1, it gave my dad quite a scare when he took his foot off the accelerator and it didn't slow down. Needless to say I got a good telling off.
Great video. I love the fact they could comfortably and safely use the Cape rivers and waterways. Very few crocs back then........ most were turned into belts, shoes and luggage.
A significant observation. It’s the same with Seals and Sharks around Sydney. The old time Fisherman killed both off in numbers that boggle the imagination
Last one I saw was Mal and his wife going to the tip in their 100 series LC, and compared to this it seemed like a picnic! Nothing seemed to phase these guys. That river was uncrossable by car, let’s face it, but they did it anyway!
90%of 4 wheelers these days would have thrown the towel in long ago even with all the new mod cons of lockers, lifts, skids winches and recovery equipment etc, amazing perseverance good work guys 👍
The 10% of 4WDs that are up for the job these days are almost exclusively Toyota Landcruisers. According to my mate who works in Outback North Queensland you don't see much else. Maybe the odd Nissan Patrol.
I just love the simplicity of it all back then. I know some of the new gadgets and developments re really useful, but it's great to see how it was done in the early 70's. My family did some trips like this in the early/mid 80's, and it's really nostalgic to watch these old films. Thanks for uploading.
Loved the Leyland Brothers films, back when travelling Australia was still an adventure and you had to rely on your own initiative to get yourself unstuck. Not like today's bitumised roads and help just a phone call away...
Looking at all that water in the Jardine and I can’t help but think of how many crocs were in there. I spent 6 months in Bamaga and a few trips over the Jardine (on the barge). One trip down to the Jardine, in the dry season (in 88) we found a massive croc slide, maybe 16 foot croc, you guys were very game going in that water. I know the Jardine brothers use to cross with lots of houses with them in the middle, the crocs would pick off horses on the outside.
Crazy adventure! I can't imagine trying to film and document in those days! When the broken diff came out I thought for sure you'd have a special glue to fix the teeth!😁
Agree with last comment. Prepared with spare parts and simple problem solving skills.Travel in numbers be safe, be smart and keep it simple. Days have changed, vehicles have changed, but they didn't need every gadget advertised on TV to get out and have a go.
WOW! What the Leyland brothers did is amazing! And with kids along too! I loved how the cab filled with water and they are still driving her! You would NEVER see this kind of no BULLS**T anywhere these days GO THA AUSSIES!!
Might have much in the way of creature comforts in the old land rovers,but they were tough.........usually had to replace the axles with army issue ones
at school in the 70`s a mate would say ,"where do you recon we are mike , Me , buggered if i know mal " standard answer for near 45 years ,,, man that stuck !
Do you know what this is from? I thought it might've just been original aired footage but the voice over updates marks it as a later production. Grew up watching these two. EDIT: ah, answered at the end, Leyland Brothers World
I Went On A Safari To Cape York In 1997 Probably A Lot Easier Than In 1972! Although Gunshot Creek Was Probably In The Same Condition! Met Mal Leyland At The Melbourne Caravan And Camping Show In 1997 Great Bloke!🤠🚘🌳🌴🏞️🐊🐸🐍🦎🐂🇦🇺
The good old days for wheel driving definitely not like that now we went to Cape York in 1985 of the old Telegraph Road and it was great not many cars then either I’ve been back since
Cheers for sharing this classic any chance you have a copy of the Leyland brothers rafting down the colo River you could share have been searching for it for years now
