The Sahara, the Arab chief, my estranged father and me

See also http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/PDF_Files/U-Z%20-%20A-D/16654%20Wtrmrk%20Kilns%28I-AD%29.PDF -- they ended up in Western Australia

Published on Thursday 24 March 2011 04:03

AS a young woman, Jackie Smart had a taste for adventure.

But when she had to be rescued from an ill-fated African safari led by her estranged father, she made national headlines.

During the group trip, Jackie had already watched a bullfight in Madrid, smoked opium in a Kasbah and caught the eye of an Arab chief who wanted to buy her for nine camels and five goats.

But it was a foolhardy attempt by her father to cross the Sahara in an old Army truck that spelled the end of her adventure.

Jackie now lives in New Zealand. Her daughter, Lesley Eden, who lives in Australia, told the News her mother’s incredible tale.

A 20-year-old typist from Birstall, Jackie had heard about the possibility of a Safari adventure from her then boyfriend, Frank. He had wanted to travel to Africa and had seen a trip advertised.

It was offering places on a six-week drive through Europe and Africa for people who wanted to move to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

When they arrived at the Birstall address given, they discovered the organiser was Jackie’s estranged father, Joseph Russell Smart.

Lesley said: “Russell was very charming and Jackie quite liked him at that time. Russell told them that unfortunately there was only one place left on the trip so Frank insisted Jackie should take the place and spend time with her father.”

The fee was £75, but Mr Smart waived it for his daughter. Also going on the trip were his new wife, Lorna, and their two young children, Gloria, aged nine, and Jack, aged six. The family were hoping to start up a farming business in Rhodesia. Passengers also included 15 ex-servicemen who had all served overseas and had jobs to go back to in Africa.

Lesley said: “Jackie’s mother, Alice, wasn’t happy when she was told but apart from saying she didn’t think it was a good idea, Jackie did end up going. Nothing was said about Russell, so off Jackie went on her safari expedition. She does wonder if her mother had shared her views with her of what Russell was really like, whether she would still have decided to go or not – but then when one is young, we believe we are invincible, and the adventure was the attraction.”

Jackie, now 84, said: “I know I broke my mother’s heart – I was leaving home to go with someone she knew was no good.

“Indeed, I thought he was a charming man, who wanted to try and make up for the fact that he had deserted my mother and left her with two children to provide for and raise.”

The group of 22 adventurers set off from Yorkshire on May 23 1947, aboard an Army truck.

They took a ferry to Calais, toured Paris and traveled down to Spain, visiting Gibraltar on the way.

They arrived in Madrid on June 21, where they watched a bullfight, a spectacle which was too bloodthirsty for Jackie.

The expedition then carried on through Portugal and Morocco.

Lesley said: “Jackie remembers Morocco being very exciting and very different – she recalls that she and some of the group went to a Kasbah, which was an experience unlike anything else she had ever seen. Everyone was smoking cigarettes, hashish and drinking coffee.

“Someone offered her some opium and, even though she was a cigarette smoker and knew that she had an addictive personality, she thought she would be okay to try it.

“However, she knew straight away that it wasn’t for her as she liked it too much and knew how harmful it could be – never again!”

Eleven of the travellers decided to drop out in North Africa, but the rest of the expedition travelled down through French-owned West Africa, which was manned by French troops.

At one outpost they reached, the group decided to speak to a nomadic tribe camped nearby.

Lesley said: “The Arab chief asked everyone to have tea with them which was a social custom; they couldn’t refuse, otherwise it would be taken as bad manners. They sat around the usual low tables and enjoyed their tea and sweetmeats; the conversation was mostly in Arabic so Jackie wasn’t really aware of what was being said, apart from occasional translations from their guide.

“However, she does remember the amosphere changed a little and then got quite frosty.

“Jackie was told later that the Arab chief had taken quite a liking to her and had offered the guide several camels and goats for her to stay and be his wife.”

The last French outpost before the desert began was Fort Trinquet, which they reached on August 1.

Picking up the tale, the Daily Express reported: “A French Lieutenant Colonel gave them a permit to cross the Sahara by the route even the Arabs shun – Tindouf, Fort Trinquet, Fort Gouraud, Atar to Dakar. This route is swept by sudden and violent sandstorms. So dangerous that the French West African authorities will not permit an ‘unconvoyed’ lorry to risk it.

“But the Russell party went on – most unaware of this. They got to Fort Trinquet and were told by the French Commandant, ‘Here you wait until further orders.’ They waited 28 days. Then an officer arrived and said they must return to Agadir at their own expense.”

q In the next Past Times, find out what happened when the group pressed on into the desert regardless of the soldiers’ warnings.