Yellow Bus gone

[Rumpig]

i just read an email i got from Cameron Corner that was sent to me (not actually sure why it came to me but that's another story). in the email a question was asked if the yellow bus was no longer where it used to be, and below is most of the answer to that question...

Due to too many travellers not being respectful of Bollards Lagoon wishes for no camping there, even though there have been signs in place, Grant Reick removed it. There were certain groups who told us that it was marked on the map as camping, so they were going to camp there. Theft, vandalism, littering and fires all contributed to his reasons. 

so my question to anyone who's been through there recently is....is this information correct, is the yellow bus now gone?
being this information came direct to me from Cheryl and Fenn, i would certainly think the info is correct, just wanting confirmation of the fact is all really. be an absolute shame if it had to be removed after so many years of being there.

[Mrs smith]

Yer mate, it's gone.

[Rumpig]

Yer mate, it's gone.

That's a shame...glad we got to see it and photograph it before this happened, such a shame other people have ruined the chance of others doing the same thing in the future though.

[Mrs smith]

Such a shame other people have ruined the chance of others doing the same thing in the future though.

Ain't that the truth.
Yes you were very lucky, they were sick of the rubbish and also buses condition had also deteriorated very badly.   

[hayesy]

We went through there a month ago and couldn't find it so we asked the guys at the Cameron Corner Store about it. They said the bus is still there.  It's just that it is now 8 feet underground. Like it has been said the owner of the property that the bus was on was sick of all the crap so he buried it.

[cruisindub]

Thats a hellova hole to bury a double decker bus?

[dazzler]

Thats a hellova hole to bury a double decker bus?

A couple of emus got it running and its on its way north.

[mule]

We were out there early July, its gone. My young daughter was disappointed , i had talked about see it five years ago. All so seeing it marked on the map.
Does any one know of the story behind it being there. 

[Rumpig]

Does any one know of the story behind it being there.

i got curious so started searching, haven't found the answer yet though, have found this but.....

A stockman from Bollards Lagoon Station was told to live in the bus because he caused too much trouble at the station, particularly when drunk. He lived there on and off for a number of years. This I know because I spent a week mustering cattle at Bollards Lagoon about 5 or 6 years ago..........

Yeah, the area around the bus is called Jack’s camp, a drafting pen location, and features a lot in my video. I never met Jack (before my time), but the stockmen I met knew him well enough to confirm that he was better off away from the homestead. The bus is only about 20km from Bollards Lagoon homestead from memory, so in terms of the outback, not that far really, and perhaps closer to his mustering / drafting tasks!
        I vaguely remember someone telling me that whoever took the bus there actually bought two of them. Dunno what happened to the other one (?)

i then found this info also, which mentions the other bus at Betoota, which you'd think is the other bus he was talking about above

You’d think there’d only be one dummy dumb enough to drive a double-decker bus into the hotter, dryer, ever more isolated Australian Outback but that would give down-under dummies too much credit. Indeed, there’s an identical, yellow, abandoned double-decker bus moldering away behind the Betoota Hotel between Windorah and Birdsville.

The bus is better known as the living space and home base of Australian artist Joshua Yeldham. Born in 1970, Yeldham set out one day in the early 1990s in his VW Combi van, searching for inspiration along the sprawling Dingo Fence. By chance, his van happened to break down near Cameron Corner and as a Kombi doesn’t offer much living space, Yeldham co-opted the empty bus: he ended up staying there 6 years........
Alone with the ghosts of bus-riders past and emboldened by the spirit of Eliza Kennedy, whose grave lies nearby, Yeldham enjoyed one of his richest artistic periods. A book of his paintings entitled “Solitude’s Bride,” possibly after Eliza, was published after Yeldham and his career moved on.

[GGV8Cruza]

I have borrowed this from another forum

The bus was taken away because of the rubbish collecting around it,&also as it is a stock watering point we try to discourage people from camping there.Hemma maps have it down as a camp site without any authority from the land owner.as this is a designated watering point under the pastoral board act no camping allowed within one KM.The history of the bus, it was towed there in 1972 with a grader by George Rieck to be used as a camp for pumping water & stockmen.Originally the bus was electric trolly bus either from Sydney or Adelaide. The bus used to be owned by GEO surveys REG Sprigg & used in the early years in the search for oil &Gas in the Cooper basin.Over the years it has slowly deteriorated with more travelers on the road every year. Hope this gives a bit about the bus Bollards lagoon past co. As for it been driven there you would need Avery long exstention

GG

[TroopiePete]

Last year the River City 4WD club did a 3 corner trip and we managed to see the yellow bus, clearly for the last time!
Actually for me it was the first time and it's a shame that due to the animals that I am embarrassed to call people, new travelers of today and tomorrow will not get the chance to experience the history as it were.. and yes it was very dilapidated and had rubbish all over the place.

I find the part about this being a watering hole a bit odd as there was no sign of a water hole near the bus except for a pile of discarded plastic drain piping and a pile of rubbish that looked like a work crew had been through and was using it as a dump!
What I did think strange at the time was the posting of poison signs all around the bus and surrounding area, this was possibly to convince people to move on and not camp in the area.

I must admit not knowing of the no camping near a water hole rule - so many rules and so little information out there!
From what I knew you could basically camp anywhere over night on the side of the road or a water way.. 

[mule]

  I can remember when i was a kid , the bus at Betoota. A old polish guy was running the pub. As my dad drove road trains out that way, fueled up from 44gal drums.
   This was back 38 years , now suddenly feeling old.      

[Rumpig]

I have borrowed this from another forum

The bus was taken away because of the rubbish collecting around it,&also as it is a stock watering point we try to discourage people from camping there.Hemma maps have it down as a camp site without any authority from the land owner.as this is a designated watering point under the pastoral board act no camping allowed within one KM.The history of the bus, it was towed there in 1972 with a grader by George Rieck to be used as a camp for pumping water & stockmen.Originally the bus was electric trolly bus either from Sydney or Adelaide. The bus used to be owned by GEO surveys REG Sprigg & used in the early years in the search for oil &Gas in the Cooper basin.Over the years it has slowly deteriorated with more travelers on the road every year. Hope this gives a bit about the bus Bollards lagoon past co. As for it been driven there you would need Avery long exstention

GG

so who was George Rieck then out of curiosity? did he own the station or work for them or something?

[timneva]

Oh.....that's a real shame 
We recently took our kids out that way for the second time, having traveled past the yellow bus a few times as a kid myself. Glad they had the opportunity to see it.



That being said, it has deteriorated quite a bit since then. I guess it's like a lot of iconic places and things in the outback.......you've gotta get out there and see em before they disappear!!

Cheers,
Tim