Mailman, Birdsville Track

Kruse first began driving trucks in 1932 when he took up work with the storekeeper and postmaster at Yunta in the state's northeast. His run included three mail delivery services. In 1934 he was employed by Harry Ding's outback transport service. Two years later Ding won the Marree to Birdsville mail service contract and Kruse was assigned to the job. The Birdsville track runs through the desert of South Australia from Marree to Birdsville in the south west corner of Queensland. Kruse battled through some of the driest country in Australia and difficult circumstances to ensure that the people of these isolated communities received their supplies.

In 1939 Kruse drove a support vehicle for Cecil Madigan's expedition across the Simpson Desert. Kruse was the star of the documentary film Back of beyond, about the mail service on the Birdsville Track, filmed in 1952. It won the 'Absolute Grand Prize' for best documentary at the Venice International Film Festival in 1954, was nominated for a BAFTA in 1955 and awarded prizes at several international film festivals. It was also a huge hit in Australia with about 10 per cent of the population of the country seeing it in its first two years of release. Kruse was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to the outback community in 1955.

In 1963 Kruse sold the contract for the Marree-Birdsville mail run and the Kruse family moved to Adelaide. Kruse worked mainly in earthmoving and dam sinking and his work often took him back up north. He officially retired in 1984. In 1999 Kruse featured on film again in Last mail from Birdsville in which, at age 85, he delivered the mail along the Birdsville Track again in his restored Leyland Badger truck.

1939: Drove support vehicle on Cecil Madigan's expedition to cross the Simpson Desert

1952: Featured in documentary film Back of beyond; film released 1953 and awarded 'Absolute Grand Prize' for best documentary at the Venice International Film Festival in 1954

1955: Made Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to the outback community

'He's modest about a mighty job', TheNews, 26 February 1959, p. 37, col. a-d

Weidenbach, Kristin. Mailman of the Birdsville Track: the story of Tom Kruse, Sydney, NSW: Hodder Headline Australia, 2003

Bank SA Heritage Icons list (National Trust of South Australia) - Leyland Badger

Flinders Ranges Research - Tom Kruse the Birdsville mailman

Last mail from Birdsville - The story of Tom Kruse