The not-for-profit Chamberlain 9G Tractor Club of WA, made up of a crew who go on epic annual treks across Australia's remote regions courtesy of their reliable Chamberlain 9G tractors, is planning big for its 25th anniversary celebrations in August, 2025.
About 20 tractor drivers will embark on an eight-week journey that starts in Dongara, continues through Alice Springs in the Northern Territory before finishing in Kalgoorlie.
It will signal a return to normal for the club says club president Hugh Campbell.
"Our last major trek was in 2019 - after that COVID affected a lot of things," Mr Campbell said.
"We're just trying to rejuvenate everything and get it back into action again."
With each journey the crew raises money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and children's hospitals in various States.
"Some of our treks have raised in excess of $60,000 and some of the smaller ones hit $15 to $20,000," Mr Campbell said.
"We're not a massive fundraiser but we do what we can.
"Part of the reason is because a lot of our stuff is off-road and we don't cross a lot of the population.
"Sometimes we'll go into one of the main streets, and we'll park a couple of tractors and fundraise there.
"At the end of the day, we rely on the passing traffic and passing public, and we'll probably do some fundraising in Alice Springs while we're there as well."
Mr Campbell said the club wanted to determine final numbers of participants by this March, due to the intense preparation required for each tour.
Some of the 2025 journey will be uncharted territory, even for Mr Campbell and his experienced crew.
"We're going to go to places none of us have been before," he said.
"We'll send a couple on a reconnaissance run in July this year, so we'll know what conditions to expect around the same time in 2025.
"There's a lot of Aboriginal Reserves that weren't there before, and you have to get permits.
"It's a lot of behind the scenes organising, these treks."
Everyone involved knows once the planning is sorted and the journey beings, things can still go wrong.
Mr Campbell said it was the character-building element of the expedition.
"It brings the originality out in a lot of people, to start thinking outside the circle," he said.
"When you're out in the remote - and that is a sad part, we are getting less and less remote as Australia grows - but there's still a lot of remote areas, and when something happens, you experience the situation as is and you'll get home one way or another."
The club's vehicle of choice, the Chamberlain 9G which was designed and built in WA, has been a key reason for the success of each trek.
"They've got a really good road speed and the big thing with them is reliability," Mr Campbell said.
"They're so well-made and they're a simple, mechanical tractor."
