DRAWN BY A BULL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 March 1939, Page 3

DRAWN BY A BULL

FAMILY IN CARAVAN.

JOURNEY OF 359 .MILES. A bull has drawn a family of five in a home-made caravan from Mildura to Melbourne, a distance of 359 miles in 73 days, to win a wager of £5O for its owner, Mr J. L. Talent, of Nowingi, 30 miles from Mildura.

With a 'margin of a week to spare, Mr Talent drove his caravan down Elizabeth Street, one of Melbourne’s leading streets, on the final lap to the post office. He had to obtain special •permission from the police to enable him to drive through the city. The bull, wnown as “Billy,” was used for plough and dray work on Mr Talent’s farm before conditions became too dry for further work. Originally the bull was exchanged with a neighbour for a cow.

“At no stage did he weaken and he always looked a winner,” said Mr Talent, in discussing the long trek of nearly 11 weeks to Melbourne. “He weighs about a ton, and he is as fit as the day we left Mildura. He is well shod with two iron shoes on each foot.

“The journey was not really a financial success,” added Mr Talent. “The caravan cost £35 to build, and Billy ate lots of chafi' at 7s 6d a bag, but was a fine outing for the wife and for me, who had not been to Melbourne together for nine years. Our children, Dawn, Nell and John, are excited because they will see the sea for the first time when we go to St Kilda.” The caravan quarters consists of a large double bed and two large sleeping bunks for the children. A wireless set in one corner provided the party with-entertainment as it crawled along at an average of less than six miles a day. Mr Talent has no definite plans for the future, except that he will not return to the farm until good rains fall as there is nothing he do in present drought conditions. He has not decided whether to ask Billy to haul the family back to Mildura, although “he can take it" if necessary, says MiTalent.