I first visited this magnificent old gas-fired Crossley when I was a skinny, pimple-faced teenager, during the early 1980’s, while o a 4WD trip with friends. The engine was almost intact, and in good condition, considering the many years it must have languished in the harsh Australian bush. It was as if the miners had just packed up and left everything in situ.

The Crossley sat, ready to run the battery, with the gas producer, and various mineshafts nearby. The remains of the miners’ hut, with the chimney intact, still held crude cooking utensils, and old boots and bottles were scattered nearby. A Buick straight 8 cylinder motor, used to winch the miners and gold encrusted ore up from the bowels of the earth, had been lifted up by a large Manna Gum tree, and was now embedded into the tree!

In my youthful imagination, I visualised being swept back through time to w