How the engine looked three years ago when Cooktown resident Allan Walker discovered it in the bush and decided to restore it in memory of his late brother. Photo: Supplied.
What started with an engine on a saw bench in northern Tasmania’s timber country more than six decades ago will culminate with another being started 4,000 kilometres away in memory of a brother lost on Wednesday.
Cooktown man Allan Walker has spent the past three years fixated on the four-tonne engine that powered the stamping machine at one of the region’s former gold mines and, after a Herculean effort to recover it from the bush, has meticulously restored it to what he hopes is running condition.
It is important to note “what he hopes is running condition”, because starting the engine to test it before its unveiling this week would have been cheating, according to his late brother Dennis, whom the passion project is in honour of.
“I haven’t had it going yet, but it’s ready to start, and that will be in honour of my brother,” he told Cape York Weekly.
“I can’t start it [before the event], because my brother always had this idea you always do something once, and then the job’s done.
“If I started it now, I’d be cheating; I’ve got to do my homework now and start it on the day.”
The engine was made in 1924 by Ronaldson Bros and Tippett in Ballarat, and Mr Walker explained getting it home to commence the restoration had involved cutting a 1km track through the scrub to allow a crane to transport it.
“My neighbour said there was an engine over in the bush that I should have a look at,” he said.
“I went through the right channels; we had to make a track through the scrub and make a track to get a crane in.
“Two years after I saw it, I had the engine home.”
Now, with the engine restored through a combination of original and fabricated parts, the latter required after visitors to the old gold mine “souvenired” key components, Mr Walker explained what had fuelled his quest to commemorate his brother’s memory after he died in 2019.
“Dennis was a twin and the youngest by about seven minutes,” he reflected.
“My other brother John is still in Tasmania, and we grew up down there – my two brothers, me, and mum and dad.
“We had this little engine that was made in England, a similar style to this engine, on a saw bench to cut timber, and when I was 10, I remember being strong enough to pull on the belt to start the engine.
“[Dennis] restored a lot of engines after we grew up and he always tried to find the original engine dad had, but he couldn’t get it; so, I’ve always tried to get an engine like it, and that’s how I got this one.”
Mr Walker, now 78, said he believed his brother would be proud of the work he had put into the restoration.
“On top of the moon, he’d be,” Mr Walker said emotionally.
“Most of the engines he restored, he painted them better than showroom condition and wouldn’t start them; they were better than Mickey Mouse.
“Starting this one will be for him.”
The community is invited to join Mr Walker to celebrate the completion of the project and watch the engine start for the first time since its restoration from 9:30am on 28 May at 2 Cycad Close – about 7km north of Cooktown Hardware.
