Mailman of the Birdsville Track

Book excerpt: The truly classic Australian story of Tom Kruse - legendary mailman of the Birdsville Track. For the people who lived in the desert between Marree and Birdsville, contact with the outside world was hard and sporadic - but one man was their lifeline: Tom Kruse. For more than twenty years he was the connection with the outside world for the families, station workers and others who lived along the Birdsville Track. Tom delivered everything from the mail and newspapers to fuel and food - whole communities waited in anticipation for him to drop off their supplies. But it was a hard life, from regularly making running repairs to his truck to unloading and reloading tons of stores so that he could ferry his cargo across flooded creeks. Come sandhills, hell or high water, Tom Kruse kept faith with the locals up and down the Track. Tom was a real Australian hero - and no matter what happened, the mail always got through. 'Told with honesty and vigour' - Sydney Morning Herald 'A tribute to a man who earned the love of a whole generation of Australians and shows us that the pioneer characteristics of guts and good-natured stoicism are still beautiful' - The Age 'Full of characters' - Daily Telegraph