Their words not mine.

Saw this for sale on Facebook and cannot link it.  They are open to offers.  No details on size

Here are some screen shots

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Derek it is one of the six ovens from Alexandria Downs Station in the NT. It is a 36" oven the same as the one Ned Winter has at the entrance to his property. I will be picking it up tomorrow but no, it is not mine. I am picking it up for friends of ours.

Jeff

Made in Toowoomba!

Chally wrote on Jun 5^th, 2018 at 7:27pm:

Derek it is one of the six ovens from Alexandria Downs Station in the NT. It is a 36" oven the same as the one Ned Winter has at the entrance to his property. I will be picking it up tomorrow but no, it is not mine. I am picking it up for friends of ours. Jeff

Wow, that’s a biggie.  I have a photo of the one at Ned’s gate and now I remember the ears were that odd shape.

Thanks for the info Jeff.

Kingsthorpe David wrote on Jun 5^th, 2018 at 7:31pm:

Made in Toowoomba!

Has that been confirmed David.  I always thought there was a question mark over it.

36 inch! I didn't know they got that big. You learn something new every day

Tadpole normally 24 inch is about as big as they get, the story goes that those six were made that size by mistake.

Any idea what this sold for?

Derek wrote on Jun 5^th, 2018 at 10:46pm:

Kingsthorpe David wrote on Jun 5th, 2018 at 7:31pm: Made in Toowoomba! Has that been confirmed David.  I always thought there was a question mark over it.

Derek, information I received recently from a past manager on Alexandria Station says that yes the ovens were made in Toowoomba.


tadpole wrote on Jun 15^th, 2018 at 7:01pm:

Any idea what this sold for?

For a lot of money tadpole but not as much as the 24" oven at the recent Toowoomba auction sold for. It's not my place to say what it sold for mate.

Thanks for that Jeff.

The  camp ovens from Alexandria Station NT were ordered during the time Bill Young “ the Rager “ was the manager in the 1950s. The common story of how they came to be that size is that one of the stockcamp cooks put in an order in for some new camp ovens but forgot to say what size. The bookkeeper kept humbugging old Bill to find out what size the cook wanted when he was next out there checking on the  Stockcamp. On returning to the station one day after being out to the camp the bookkeeper again asked the Rager about the camp oven sizes and being in a bad mood Bill threw his arms in the air and said “ about that bloody big” . The bookkeeper thought to himself Bills arms were about 3ft apart so went on to  get the campovens made and the rest is history!  Apparently they were never used for their desired purpose but made great feed troughs in the pig pens at Alexandria. There is one displayed on the lawn at the Avon Downs police station and another at Alexandria station amongst other historic gear.

VB wrote on Sep 7^th, 2019 at 2:48pm:

and another at Alexandria station amongst other historic gear.

Thanks for adding that VB. All six are accounted for being; 1 Avon Downs, 1 Ned Winters, 1 Mt Isa Museum, 2 at Townsville and one at Warwick plus a spare lid at the Drovers Camp Camooweal. I think the one at Alexandria Station is no longer there and is one of the above.

Jeff

The story I was told was the told, the bookkeeper was told to measure them and instead of the diameter he measured the circumference.

jclures wrote on Sep 24^th, 2019 at 9:15pm:

The story I was told was the told, the bookkeeper was told to measure them and instead of the diameter he measured the circumference.

Thats the same story I have always heard though the other one sounds just as as possible.