Crossing the Outback

I am hoping that maybe one of you "upside downers" from Australia (maybe you are the right side uppers and we are the upside downers) can help me remember the name of a guy that crossed the outback on a Norton single in the 50"s. He told me a story of he and another guy setting out to cross the outback. He said that they were about halfway across and his partner panicked and decided to go back by himself. They found that his partner had fallen victim to a phenomena that had befallen others that had done this attempt. Getting disorientated in the dust and driving in a big circle when they thought they were going straight. Sadly his partner did not make it back.
Backstory:
In the early 90's (I am not sure of the year) I completed a 2 year restoration of a barn find ($300.00) 73 850 Commando. My friend T. C. Christensen (the drag racing legend) rebuilt the engine and I did everything else. The day after it was started for the first time I rode it to the AMA Vintage Days in Columbus, Ohio. Upon returning from that trip we tuned up for a few days and headed for the west coast.
We were riding around on some dirt roads on a Native American Reservation on the coast of Washington looking for the road to the park with the lookout over the Pacific. This is the furthest West point in the contiguous United States. An older couple in a van flagged us down. The driver of the van had a British accent and was very thrilled to see someone touring on a Norton. He explained that he knew the way to the park entrance and we should follow. We parked and set out on a foot path to the lookout.
This path was 1/4 mile (.4 km) long, so we had a nice conversation. He shared the story of his trek across the outback. We exchanged addresses and when he got home to England he sent me a photo copy of the write-up that was in an American motorcycle magazine. He was for real. I am not sure but I think he may have been the first to cross the outback on a motorcycle. My riding partner and I feel very privileged to have met him and his wife. Also, he and his wife were very nice company. Of course you knew that by the fact that he was a Norton guy.
Being the fool that I can be sometimes, I will blame it on moving a few times, I have misplaced the article.
The other day it occurred to me that through this forum I have a direct connection to Norton people from Australia, and I realized that maybe someone there would know his name. I like telling the story and feel bad that I don't know his name.
Any help?

Re; “They found that his partner had fallen victim to a phenomena that had befallen others that had done this attempt. Getting disorientated in the dust and driving in a big circle when they thought they were going straight. Sadly his partner did not make it back.

Have/had they not heard of a compass, or doesn’t one work down under?

I think the issue was dust?

If you walk away from the road in the outback to have a crap, you probably don't carry a compass. It is very easy to get disorientated and without water, you are stuffed in a very short time. It is not something to be taken lightly. A short time ago there was a Japanese girl trying to ride a push-bike across one of our deserts. She had no water with her. The locals had to man-handle her to stop her stupidity.

The biggest problems riding outback in Aussie land is long fuel stops, cattle stations get peved off with travelers wanting fuel as usualy cattle stations only get fuel delived in the dry session and only once or twice a year they mostly have a few storage tanks of deisel and only one tank of pretrol for things like chainsaws and a few motor bikes, lots of travelers don't realize the distances, so traveling outback on a bike in the 50 s would had been a brave thing to do, even traveling across the Nulabor on a bike you have to carry extra fuel and its bitumen.
I can't help you with your question as I haven't heard that story but it would be interesting to read about it, lots of people have lost their lives from break downs and not telling people their plans before any desert trips you have to let the police know your plans near the starting point and let them know when you have made it over the otherside, some try to walk out after they broken down and thats where they die, set up camp and wait someone will come looking for you, you can live a long time without food but water is different.
Outback Australia is still wild country, very dry and people still get lost.

Ashley

I met a young fella who rode his bike around Australia in 14 days, before the road was bitumen. At one stage he hit a kangaroo and had to drag his damaged bike up a road into a cattle station

The gentleman that I talked to said that they had carried water in their spare tire.

Have you seen a map of Australia most of it is very dry and desertlet and temps can get higher than 40c in the hotter months so depends on the time of year they traveled, knowing where to get water and fuel, most 4x4 travelers have long range tanks as well carry lots of water, so back in the 50s would have been a feat in it self just to survive and not as many places to get fuel and water, would have to be well planned even in todays times.

Ashley

What you call desert in America might not be what we mean by desert in Australia. When I was a kid, my teacher told me 'there is no real desert in America'. I was at the west coast of America in 1983 and drove through Arizona. I did not see any desert. What people don't realise is that we still have wilderness areas in Australia where you can get lost with very little hope of being rescued. In our town, we got a new dentist who was Chinese. He took his girlfriend bushwalking just a few miles from town and they got lost. Both of them were severely traumatised. Then they went back to find his girl's bag which had her camera in it - the did not find it and ended up struggling through the black-berries again.