SENIOR SCHOOL
Book Club review:
The Last Great Australian Adventurer
Ben Carlin and Half-Safe are a part of Guildford Grammar School’s history that
most of us have encountered indirectly. Perhaps we have heard of the Carlin
Challenge or seen the bright yellow vehicle in its purpose built shelter. We
may have a general idea that Ben Carlin did something adventurous with this
amphibious vehicle but few are aware of the full story of this Old Guildfordian
and his remarkable achievement.
The Senior Book Club have had the
opportunity to be among the first readers of
the newly published account of Ben Carlin’s
circumnavigation of the world in Half-Safe
written by Gordon Bass, whose father
George F. Bass met Ben when he (George)
was just 14 years old. This American writer
brings back to Guildford Grammar School
students the story of one of their own from
so many years ago and injects new meaning
into the mysterious vehicle that has found its
final resting place here. Read on for reviews
from the Senior Book Club students and the
staff members that joined them in reviewing
this intriguing new book.
One could be forgiven for wondering
whether there was anything new to say
on the subject of the circumnavigation of
the globe by Ben Carlin and others in the
amphibious jeep ‘Half-Safe’, given that
there have been at least four previous books
written on the subject, three of which were
written by those who journeyed in Half-
Safe themselves. However, The Last Great
Australian Adventurer makes a genuine
contribution to telling the story of Ben Carlin
and Half-Safe.
Weaving together strands from Carlin’s own
records with the recollections and records
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of those who knew him and worked with
him, Bass creates a genuinely interesting
narrative which provides insight into the lives
and characters of those involved and the
influences that drove them.
While others have written of Carlin
predominantly as a volatile character, Bass
writes Carlin as a somewhat tragic figure,
almost as a Shakespearean tragic hero,
fundamentally flawed and ultimately undone
by his own hubris. Bass writes sympathetically
of Carlin, recognizing his genius and his
foolishness, leavening his skills with his
flaws, his drive and ambition with his endless
desire to run away, his charm with his rage,
painting a complex portrait of an enigmatic
and ultimately troubled man. If Carlin had
written as honestly and engagingly as
Bass, his story might have turned out quite
differently.
Arguably the most interesting work to date
about a feat which has been generally
forgotten, despite its entry into the
record books, The Last Great Australian
Adventurer is the book that should have
been written about Half-Safe, and which will
hopefully restore it to the realms of public
consciousness.
Merriwyn Spicer-Wensley (staff)
Deirdre Carlin, daughter of Ben Carlin, along
with some of the Guildford Grammar School
Book Club, meet at Half-Safe to celebrate
and review The Last Great Australian
Adventurer, authored by Gordon Bass.
The Last Great Australian Adventurer by
Gordon Bass is dedicated to the life of Ben
Carlin and his adventures with his lump of
metal with multiple personality disorder:
Half-Safe. I initially thought that this was
going to be a tedious journey through about
360 pages, but what I ended up with was
pages packed with personality. Whether
the scenario be on land or at sea, whether
Carlin was a mess or more of a mess, Bass
knew the facts. Bass’ familiarity with Carlin
is unmatchable, whether that be through
his family’s history with Carlin or through
the knowledge of people who know people
who knew Carlin. Bass doesn’t do the usual
biography thing of being a more elaborate
version of Wikipedia, as his book tries to
figure out the inner workings of this mad,
ludicrous man. His engineering feats, such
as being able to diagnose a problem with
the engine just by listening to it, or fixin