Dumbleyung – a little town on the big stage

Donald Campbell is the only person to have set both land and water speed records in the same year.  The land speed record was set in July 1964 at Lake Eyre, South Australia. We discovered today that the water speed record was set on Lake Dumbleyung near the town of Dumbleyung in Western Australia on the afternoon of 31st December 1964. Campbell achieved the double with only hours to spare.  A replica of his Bluebird K7 jet engine hydroplane was commissioned by the town for the 50th anniversary of the record and unveiled by his daughter Gina Campbell.  Bluebird reached 276.33 mph (444.71 km/hr) to set the record.

Hundreds of people visited Dumbleyung for the 50th anniversary only to find that the pub had recently closed when the owner ran into financial trouble.  This was a double whammy as it was outside the pub that Campbell had announced to the world he’d broken the record and it was also New Year’s Eve.  One of the visitors decided to buy and restore the iconic building and it’s now open for business again and contains a shrine to the great Donald Campbell.

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