Four young adventurers who set off in an old banger from Shoreditch to Australia 50 years ago never made it back.

The group of pals set off on the 9,000-mile overland journey in 1974, planning to return two years later.

But they liked the life Down Under so much, they decided to stay.

One of the adventurers, Roy Hill, has now got back in touch with the Hackney Gazette, which published a short ‘farewell’ article when they set off on a rainy April day all those years ago.

“The four of us were all 21 when we set off,” Roy recalls. “We left Shoreditch on an overland trip around the world — but never came back.”

The lads bought an old car from Roy’s brother for £10 and just headed east to Dover and the Channel ferry, leaving the British weather behind.

They drove overland across Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, India and Singapore, finally arriving in time for Australia’s winter!

“It took us two months to get here,” Roy explained. “The car broke down in Turkey and we came the rest of the way by bus, train and plane — ending up with just five quid each and no jobs.”

But the resourceful adventurers, who all went to Central Foundation School in Old Street in the 1960s, managed to pick up work the first day they arrived and have never looked back.

“We are all in our early 70s now,” Roy tells the Gazette. “We decided to meet up in Perth again and celebrate 50 years arriving in Oz.”

Back then, Roy’s mum Dot had popped into the newspaper’s old office in Kingsland Road to get a copy of that farewell photograph we published and sent it out after they arrived. 

Roy settled in Sydney, started a software engineering company and is still working — as well as pursuing his music, playing trumpet. He played with Hoxton Market Mission’s brass band as a teenager and still does rock gigs on Bondi Beach! 

His pal Bob King went to live in Perth, where he set up an insurance business. They first met at St John’s Infants School in Pitfield Street when they were five years old and have been pals ever since.

Their mate Bob Baker lives in Sydney, where he has been a warehouse manager for 40 years. The fourth member of the gang, Jack Edwards, died in 2022.