DAVE BURGE
"Road Boss"

Dave Burge was chosen as "Road Boss" on Hooves and Horns for a number of reasons. Firstly Dave has lived and worked in the Outback of South Australia for some 35 years. His first adventure into the area was as a youth conductor on the Old Ghan Train travelling from Port Pirie through to Alice Springs and return .He has many fascinating stories of the Old Ghan , the people who worked on it and of the train trip itself.Years later saw Dave living in Lyndhurst operating a Talc Mine in the area. He then fenced on many stations, carted cattle by road train on the Oodnadatta , Birdsville and Strzelecki Tracks and catered for mining companies around Australia.

In 1986 Dave and his mates did a re-enactment of Tom Kruse’s mail run from Birdsville after which the old truck from the documentary The Back of Beyond was rescued. In1999 Dave Organised the event "Last Mail From Birdsville" which saw the Leyland do one last run down the Birdsville Track.

Other Outback achievements are;
Executive Management Committee Member Opera in the Outback number one.
Life member William Creek Gymkhana Association.
Organiser "Sounds of the Outback" a major Year of the Outback Event.
Organiser "Old Ghan 2000" a huge tag a long fundraiser for the National Road Transport Hall of Fame.
Won the Northern Regional Development Award in 2001 for Services to the Outback by an individual.

Dave was proud to be asked to take up the job of Road Boss and is taking time off from his job as a tour operator to tackle the challenge. He and his team are in charge of transport, preparing the special "drovers tucker" menus daily, camping , logistics and in fact anything but horses and cattle.

top ^