FEATURE - Nissan Patrol Simpson Desert crossing
Words: Mike Ryan and Nissan Australia
Photos: Nissan Australia
This September, Nissan celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first motorised crossing of the vast Simpson Desert; a legendary feat achieved by the Sprigg family in a stock standard G60 Nissan Patrol.
Doug Sprigg is now approaching 70, but back in ’62, he was just seven years old when he, his older sister Margaret, and parents Reg and Griselda all squeezed into the front seat of a Nissan Patrol and set off from Andado Station in the Northern Territory for what would prove to be an epic and history-making journey across the Simpson Desert.
Reg Sprigg was an experienced geologist and the trek wasn’t a holiday for he and his family; rather an exploratory mission for his geological survey company, searching for oil and gas reserves that may lay under the dunes of the Simpson.
Aussie First
Taking eleven days from start to finish, the Sprigg’s family adventure would eventually end at Birdsville in Queensland on 11 September, 1962. It wasn’t something they were aiming to achieve at the time, but that crossing earned the family — and the G60 Nissan Patrol — a place in Australian history for the first ever motorised crossing of the Simpson.
The size and scale of the Sprigg’s endeavour can’t be overstated. The Simpson Desert is the largest parallel sand dune desert in the world, stretching more than 170,000 square kilometres and touching Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
With no real tracks or maps to follow, the family averaged just 5km/h on their journey.
The dunes were challenging enough, but the crops of saltbush that dot the Simpson Desert presented a double hazard. In addition to being an obstacle, the searing heat of the desert meant they were a real fire danger every time the G60 got momentarily beached on a sand dune. And with a 200-litre drum of petrol included in the Patrol’s cargo, fire risks were a scary thing.
A Narrow View
An eleven-day trek across the Simpson meant there was plenty of breathtaking scenery to take in each day, even though young Doug saw it from an unusual perspective.
“With four of us sitting across the front seat, a 200-litre drum of fuel in the back and a 200-litre drum of water, the vehicle was pretty heavily loaded,” Doug recalled.
“I was even shorter then than I am now, but the Nissan had provided me a way of seeing forward — the air vents below the windscreen - so I got to see the scenery through the air vents, but the big sand dunes coming up I could see through the windshield.”
While Doug and Margaret were along for the ride, dad Reg did the driving and mum Griselda handled the cooking and logistics, ensuring the family was well supplied and ready for anything.
By day, the family would track across the desert in their trusty Patrol, and by night they would camp beneath the stars.
“Mum was the one that did a lot of the preparations. They were an amazing team. Without mum, dad wouldn’t have been anywhere near as successful,” Doug added.
“And the vehicle was magnificent. Every other vehicle had significant problems, with gearboxes in particular, or with differentials, but the Nissan never had any issues. And it was punished — Dad believed that vehicles had to work for their living.
“I have such fond memories of that G60. It was such a robust and reliable vehicle.”
A Love of the Outback
Doug is now the second-generation owner of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary — a 144,000-acre former sheep station located deep in South Australia’s red-dirt outback.
Reg Sprigg first came across the property decades before the family’s history-making crossing of the Simpson and would eventually buy it.
“Dad used his 4WDs to go and explore different parts of the country and one of the places he came to in 1937, as a geology student, was Arkaroola. He fell in love with it, and later went to the state government and tried to convince them to buy it as a National Park,” Doug said.
“Parks wasn’t interested, so eventually he bought it himself in 1968, and it’s been about the same ever since.
“There is nowhere quite like this and it has an amazing diversity of geology, animals and plants in these arid lands.”
As a wildlife sanctuary, Arkaroola has been regularly visited by students studying botany, geology and paleontology, with a special research and education foundation set up to support this. The massive property also welcomes hundreds of tourists annually who want to explore the diverse scenery within the property that sits at the northern end of the stunning Flinders Ranges.
Celebrating 60
Back in 2012, Nissan marked the 50th Anniversary of the Sprigg family’s Simpson Desert crossing with a recreation drive that saw Doug and Margaret take part amongst other Patrol owners and enthusiasts.
This year, Nissan caught up with Doug — a verified Patrol Legend — at Arkaroola and brought along a restored G60 Patrol to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of that momentous crossing. It was a reunion of man and machine that unlocked plenty of powerful memories.
“Driving this vehicle now, 60 years later, it’s just incredible,” Doug said.
“Dad was amazing in his diversity of knowledge, and I didn’t realise just how much I relied on him until he died. Suddenly, this amazing resource was gone.
“But jumping in this Nissan brings those memories back, it’s been amazing.”
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