Mutual assistance on road work DPR/TV/1031

Any boxing buff will tell you that "they never come back" - especially the heavyweights. But in Vietnam an old heavyweight is getting into the fight again - the fight for better conditions for the Vietnamese people. The heavyweight is an ancient steamroller, constructed in France 66 years ago, and which flanked by lighter weight modern Australian engineering equipment like trucks and graders, is now helping to repair a main road near the Australian Task Force Base at Nui Dat, in Phuoc Tuy Province. Handled by Vietnamese workmen, the old timer is provided with wood for its massive boiler by an even older means of transport - the bullock cart. These arrive periodically with fuel which is off-loaded by the Australian troops. The only machine in the area with a giant steel roller suitable for the task, the old steamroller was built at Ratigny in France in 1902, and was made available by the Province Engineer for about a week. As the wood goes in and the gauge shows the pressure build-up the ancient pistons begin to churn and the flywheel starts spinning. Laboriously wheezing, puffing, and clanking its way up and down alongside the sophisticated equipment used by members of 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers, "Puffing Billy", on loan from the Province Engineer at Baria, The Provincial capital, plays his vital part in improving a road which takes the bulk of civilian traffic northwards. When the Australians built the Task Force Base astride the main road which runs north from the Province capital, Baria, they built a by-pass road for civilian use and undertook to maintain it. The maintenance work is the responsibility of 1st Field Squadron, and it was recently decided to grit and seal the road.