In this program we glimpse never-before-screened footage from the 1940's of outback Australia's tough mail contractors coping with shifting sand and overturned trucks. It's about blokes who could fashion a truck's clutch plate out of the lid from a 44 gallon drum.

Through clips of the original "The Back of Beyond" film we see how Tom, as a young man, coped with the Birdsville Track in 1952 - 560 km of burning clay pans, lofty sand dunes and steel shot gibber plains. On this last mail run from Birdsville Tom carries 7000 letters from all over the world - his destination is the Adelaide Post Office then the Australian National Motor Museum where the historic Leyland Badger will rest.

His stops at outback South Australian towns along the way attract thousands curious to see the old mail man and his truck. We meet the blokes who shrugged off retirement and revived almost forgotten crafts to rebuild the 64 year old Leyland Badger. We watch the patient and amazing restoration.

This is a program close to the heart of every Australian. It's about one of the last of the rugged breed of Australia's outback mail men who ensured that Her Majesty's mail would always get through even if the three day trip up The Track took three weeks, which it often did.

This is a documentary 60 years in the making, showing the evolution of the truck, the man and his difficult outback mail run through to the present day. The program draws on a remarkable collection of old movie footage, rare photos and yarns from Australia's outback characters. It cements Tom Kruse's place in Australian history, a man of immense modesty and charm who insists that "I was only doing my job".

"Last Mail From Birdsville - The Story of Tom Kruse" screened nationally on Channel Seven's the World Around us on March 24th, 2001 at 6.30PM. Produced by Corrugated Air.

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