Two Australians have set out to recreate a historic drive from London to Melbourne almost a century after adventurer Francis Birtles completed the feat. Warren Brown and Matthew Benns are raising money for charity and the King is among those wishing them well.
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00:00In 1927, Australian adventurer Francis Birtle set off from this spot outside Australia House
00:09in London on an epic journey.
00:11He drove a British Been 14 motor car across deserts, through jungles and over snow-capped
00:17mountains all the way back to Melbourne on a mission to highlight Australia's potential
00:22to the world.
00:23The 26,000 kilometre journey took eight months.
00:27Just a hundred years later, two other Aussies are taking on that same challenge.
00:32Francis Birtle was an amazing guy.
00:34I mean, no one seems to remember him at all.
00:36He was eclipsed by aviators, but there were no roads and no maps and all sorts of things.
00:40So he, I always say he makes Indiana Jones look like a wallflower, this Australian hero.
00:45So we're celebrating his life and his adventures.
00:50Warren Brown and Matthew Benz will drive a car identical to that driven by Birtle's from
00:55London to Melbourne, a journey across land to support those saving lives in the sky.
01:01Funds raised by the intrepid travellers will go to the Australian Flying Doctors Service.
01:07Fantastic cause.
01:09It started the same year that Birtle's finally arrived in Australia.
01:13And last night at the RAC club in Palmel, we received a £50,000 donation towards the
01:20Royal Flying Doctors Service, which is amazing.
01:22So we're off to a flying start.
01:24The pair have now officially set off on their adventure.
01:27And like many Aussies in London, they're hoping to be home by Christmas.