In 1954, a remarkable film was made about an outback mailman by the name of Tom Kruse. Tom lived in Marree in South Australia, a small outback town in the middle of nowhere. His job was to deliver the mail to all the outback stations, all the way to Birdsville, a job that was to make him a hero in a lot of people’s eyes except his own. He was just doing his job as he says. I have driven most types of truck throughout my life and I have had days that were real terrors, ones that gave me nightmares but at least they were broken up with some really good days and some just okay.

Toms job was to deliver goods and supplies up the Birdsville track, a track that was riddled with holes and sand dunes the whole 365 miles and there were no good days , just his job, a job racked with heartbreak all the way. He did this once a week for twenty years.

The movie THE BACK OF BEYOND was in black and white and showed Tom going for a general run up the track to Birdsville. Driving out of Marree and travelling out along the track he became just a speck in the distance to the kids that use to ride with him to the first gate. No trees, no hills, no rocks, just a sandy track wandering off into the distance where life became a great solitude, just him and the track

After driving most of the night, Tom drives up to the large cattle station Ettadinna where he is welcomed by the owners and he drops off supplies and mail for this lonely outback station. His next stop is the Cooper Pedy River where he sets up camp because now he has to completely unload his goods and supplies onto a small barge and take them across the river to meet up with his Ford Blitz on the other side. It takes him around six to seven trips across the river carrying mail goods, 44gallon drums filled with fuel for outback stations and any other goods that need to be delivered. The river changes dramatically, sometimes it is in flood while other times it is just a dust bowl, the sands shimmering in the heat. If the Cooper is in flood, Tom can be bogged up to his axles for weeks on end making him use the winch to pull himself out little bit at the time until he bogs down once again.

The next place he visits is Jack the Dogger, a hermit living at a broken down mission existing by killing foxes and dingoes for their skins which at the time had a bounty on them.

As the morning sun rises over this wind swept land he arrives at Mulka, half way along the Birdsville track. Mungerannie and Clifton Hills are the last two deliveries, and then on to his final destination, Birdsville.

Throughout his twenty years of driving, Tom had to put up with sandstorms, dust storms, floods ,flies by the millions dingoes, foxes, bogged down in sand dunes, breakdowns, and a track fraught with heartbreak and his worst enemy, isolation. Is he a hero? He says he isn’t. He was just doing his job!

In 2004, after Toms old badger was fully restored, Tom did one last run for all the people that knew him and he had a smile from ear to ear on his face while he was bringing the mail through. Tom and his badger, carrying a small load went from Birdsville to Marree and were known as THE LAST MAIL FROM BIRDSVILLE. The proceeds were taken up for the flying doctor service and Tom and his famous badger retired for good. Three busts of Tom were made and they stand at Maree, Birdsville, and the national motor museum. Tom Kruse , mailman from the outback should go down in history because he is a hero and any one can see that by watching BACK OF BEYOND. brownlickie