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The cars make it to the checkpoint at Maryborough before heading north through sugarcane country to Bundaberg. Some of the entrants arrive in Bundaberg – the second scheduled checkpoint – where crowds line the streets to watch them pass. The cars then have to traverse rough, unsealed dirt roads on their way to Rockhampton. After 38 hours, the drivers have covered 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometres) and crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.
Curator’s notes
Documentary or news footage may appear to be a straight presentation of events as they unfold, however it is often constructed to work on both a narrative and dramatic level. The section where the camera – positioned on the corner of a dirt road – captures Ken Tubman’s car careering round the bend and almost going off the road parallels the scene in Newsfront (1978) in which the Cinetone camera operators (played by Bill Hunter and Chris Haywood) covering the Redex Trials deliberately position themselves at a dangerous section of road to catch a spectacular turn (see Newsfront, clip two).
