The bush mechanic is the stuff of legend in this country.
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This type of mechanic was pretty much scattered through the suburbs for years, deploying their bodgy and sometimes dodgy techniques to keep cars on the road at the cheapest possible price.
Such practical and inventive techniques probably spread to the suburbs from the outback. Guess that's why they're called "bush mechanics".
Newcastle Museum has a new exhibition on the improvisational genius of the bush mechanics. It features an EH Holden with its roof cut off for use as a makeshift trailer. Ford gets a guernsey too, with a Fairlane painted with a water-dreaming story and an augmented reality app to explain it.
The exhibition reflects the 2001 four-part TV documentary series Bush Mechanics, which displayed the mechanical resourcefulness of Central Australia's Walpiri men. Specially commissioned art and displays show their clever bush tricks.
Their tricks included things like replacing car parts with tree boughs and using mulga [an acacia shrub], spinifex and sand as tools and spare parts.
Bush Mechanics is accompanied by a display of locally-made possum skin cloaks and weaving.
Museum director Julie Baird said the displays "allow us to celebrate the culture and ingenuity of our First Nations' people".
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said Newcastle Museum "plays a vital role in telling our stories" and displaying Australian talent like the bush mechanics.
The free exhibition runs until May 30.
$5000 Reward for Peanut
Newcastle YouTuber Brittney Saunders has lost her Dachshund puppy, Peanut.
She posted on Instagram that she was offering a $5000 reward. Peanut went missing from a Maryville backyard on Saturday. Brittney asks anyone with information to come forward.
Viral News
The great dunny roll dash of March 2020 continues. A Topics spy told us that one bloke arrived at Coles Swansea from Sydney and bought three trolley loads of bog roll.
Meanwhile, Hunter Water reminded people to "only flush the three Ps - pee, poo and (toilet) paper".
"Other products such as paper towel, tissues and wet wipes do not break down properly and can contribute to large blockages in our wastewater system."
Gum leaves, too, should not be flushed. [That last bit of advice is from us, not Hunter Water].
Hunter Water also said drinking water "remains safe to drink", adding there was "no evidence that drinking water will be affected by coronavirus or that it is transmitted by drinking water".
Meanwhile, Northern Territory News included an 8-page newspaper insert decorated with maps of Australia for readers to use as spare dunny roll. How thoughtful.
