By Ashley Blair
Ceylon and India*.
*Place and country names are those Joy used in her diary
The incredible story of the New Zealand midwife who rode a 150cc Bantam Major around the world alone continues:
Joy left Fremantle on 3 September 1955 for Ceylon and spent twelve days motorcycling around a country she thought was wonderful. Just after the Bantam was unloaded, she met two Australians who had ridden Bantams from Britain via the Persian Gulf and India. Joy was very keen to find out from them the problems and difficulties of traveling in India and they were just as interested in what Joy had planned. India and Ceylon were the only countries where she did not sleep outside under the stars, preferring to stay at YWCAs or Government Rest Houses. The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) was a long-established international organisation that provided budget accommodation for women travellers. Each day Joy’s detailed diary entries show her intense interest in the people she met and the places she travelled through.
Joy at Fremantle about to board the Oronsay, 3 September 1955. Photo Geoff Clarke.
Part of Joy’s diary for Friday 16 September 1955 reads:
From Balangoda I was in heat and coconuts again. Carried on to Pelmadulla and turned back through low hills of tea and coconuts, alongside rocky rivers and through small villages until the road ran due south through a stretch of dry land and jungle. I ran into a heavy shower about 1.30 pm. I stopped to put on my coat. It was the first time in Ceylon I had stopped and not had anyone watching me. I continued through a dry area to the coast at Ambalantota. I passed very big irrigation ditches and banana plantations. All the grass along the roadside was brown. There was little for cattle to eat and they seemed to need water. Lantana had spread and was a pest. The Sinhalese industries of weaving and pottery were passed and earth homes with thatched roofs were being built. Passed an elephant being ridden and at the coast, four monkeys ran across the road. Went to Hambantota, eight miles east along the coast travelling through dry land growing rice under irrigation. Where the rice had been harvested, buffalo and cattle grazed – there must have been hundreds of them. Crossed several rivers in which I was told there were crocodiles.
After Kandy she was forced to stay at a rest house because as she said, “I felt I could not go on as the insects in the air were terrible”. She was impressed with several very ancient temples.
The highest point in Ceylon near Nuwara Eliya, 14 September 1955. Photo Geoff Clarke.
The second to last day in Ceylon she had a tough ride as she wrote in this extract from her diary on 20 September 1955:
Had gone about five miles when the rain fell as I have never experienced in my life. It was terrible. Thunder cracked and lightning lit up the road and the jungle like day. I carried on in the dark. It was one of the worst runs I have ever done. I would have hated to have had to stop for a wild elephant on the road. (The locals say elephants stand on the road to get the warmth as the steam rises). At times I was in hills and the road twisted and turned. Later when the rain stopped, the steam from the hot bitumen rose higher than my head, adding to the difficulty of visibility.
Joy rode 1,056 miles during her twelve days in Ceylon.
In India there was a new problem as many of the village dogs chased the Bantam. Another problem was she did not have a map of India. The Automobile Association was only able to give her written instructions, and she did not get a map from them until she reached Delhi. The morning after spending the night at Palamcattah she put the last of her oil in the tank and as the petrol station did not have the correct oil she asked for only half a gallon of petrol but they only sold it in whole gallons. She pushed the Bantam four miles to a Caltex station then went in search of Shell 50 oil and topped the tank up. Unfortunately Joy did not mix the oil and petrol thoroughly and the engine stopped. She had to clean out the carburettor with an audience of over fifty youths and children before she was able to set off.
She rode down to Cape Comorin the most southerly point of India. Joy was very impressed with the standard of living in Travancore which she thought was way above the rest of India. On her fourth day in India the Bantam was not running well: spitting, missing, getting very hot and it could only be started by pushing. Joy dropped the throttle needle to the fourth notch, surrounded by the usual curious crowd, and found it ran slightly better.
At Trichur Joy made the first of what became a regular practice for her on her travels. She turned up at the public hospital, introduced herself and asked to be shown around. The detailed report in her diary went right down to the monthly payment for cooks and the feeding routine for babies. Further north at Coonoor in Tamil Nadu State she visited the Pasteur Institute of Southern India, established in 1907 to produce rabies vaccine.
Highest point reached by Joy in India in the Nilgiri Hills. Photo Geoff Clarke.
After leaving the town of Octacamundi at 7500 feet above sea level the narrow, sealed road became slippery in the rain and Joy came off on a corner, grazing her arm and thigh and bending the clutch lever. She knew the tread on her tyres was worn and was quite philosophical about her accident when she recorded in her diary: “It showed me the need for more care – I could not afford to have an accident (had no insurance)”. She was impressed with the road signs over this high area – “Drive carefully and stay alive to enjoy a Players”, and “Death overtakes the careless driver on these roads”. The same day near to Guladlur, while riding past a small herd of cattle, a cow appeared to “go mad” at the appearance and noise of the Bantam. Joy thought it was going to knock her over as it bellowed and frothed at the mouth while following her, at times running parallel to her, for about 300 yards. All the time Joy was looking for some protection and when she saw a stone wall on the opposite side of the road, she headed over to it and got off the Bantam. Luckily the cow then lost interest.
Nearer to Mysore she rode through a hilly area of jungle and bamboo where there were said to be elephants and tigers but all she saw were two monkeys. At Mysore she was impressed with the Maharajah’s Palace. While on her way to Madras she spent a morning being shown around the Christian Medical College and Hospital at Vellore. There was great excitement at the Madras YWCA where she stayed as Prime Minister Nehru was due to visit and his cavalcade was expected to stop at the YWCA where he would be presented with garlands of flowers. All the women, in their best saris, were making garlands. The crowd waited but a great sigh went up as the motorcade swept passed without even slowing down. A lady holding garlands of flowers near Joy said, “Here, you deserve them”, and put them over her head.
Joy called this a “Lovely shaded road between Bangalore and Madras.” 30 September 1955. Photo Geoff Clarke.
Joy spent most of the next day visiting the Madras General Hospital and was amazed at the size of the hospital which, she was convinced, had specialists in every single part of the human body. The only thing that did not impress her were the crows standing on the benches in the windowless kitchen. She set out late in the afternoon for Calcutta.
Near to Calcutta with floodwaters everywhere, 21 October 1955. Photo Geoff Clarke.
Part of Joy’s diary for Thursday 6 October 1955 reads:
A fine day. Up at 6.00 am. Saw more of the Mission and got some good advice. Left 9.00 am. Back to the main road by direct route. Before I had gone 10 miles I had to get off and push through some deep running water about 100 yards wide. This I did three times before reaching the main road. Noticed a buffalo swimming for its life apparently unable to find a place along the bank where it could get out of the canal; just its nose and horns were visible. The main road followed alongside hills for many miles. About 10 miles were unsealed, rough and full of potholes. Tall shady trees prevented the road from drying. Again, after reaching a sealed road I had to wade through shallow water and after a further 10 miles or so I reached the river I had been told about. The bridge had gone and the soft sandy bed made the crossing difficult. The water was about 18 inches deep in the deepest part and 100 yards wide. I waded across first, then returned and with the help of a young man pushed the bike across. Continued with much water lying about and evidence of the damage done. I entered the hills about Vizagapatam. I was soon zigzagging about the river, wharf and railway line and so reached the town. Got petrol, bought and ate bananas.
The next day was a “rest day” when she caught up with the news, decarbonized the Bantam, wrote letters, went to the bank – which would not cash her travellers’ cheques – went shopping, talked and read. At this time she was living on bananas and sweetened condensed milk. Flooding made it necessary to travel by train for part of the journey to Calcutta and on arrival she took the Bantam to the BSA agent near to the YWCA. The next day she visited the Eden Maternity Hospital. This hospital stood out to Joy because there were beds for patients although there were mattresses on the floor between each bed. Even more impressive to Joy were the maternity statistics for the previous month of September 1955. There were 837 admissions and only 3 maternal deaths. It was a hospital, Joy said later, she would have liked to work in.
She set out from Calcutta on the Grand Trunk Road for the 900 mile ride to Delhi. Joy spent two days at Benares which she said was an old city with the narrowest and most fascinating streets. She considered it the most amazing city she had seen so far in India. The delay at some level crossings could be 15 to 30 minutes while trains passed. There were ‘Complaints Books’ in little boxes by the crossings – but complaining did not seem to be effective. She also saw complaints books in post offices and public buildings in India.
Just before Delhi there was more flooding as this extract from her diary on 22nd October 1955 records:
Much floodwater lay on each side of the road and crops were partially covered. I passed through small villages and towns until within about 5 miles of the Jumma River where the traffic was heavy and congested. A sign indicated that the road had been washed away, so I had to detour through narrow market streets with buffalo carts behind and in front of me. By walking with them I got through quicker than cars. Then through muddy back lanes I met about 1/4 mile of floodwater still flowing. The muddy part was about 18 inches deep. A kind man hailed a buffalo cart and lifted the bike onto it. For 1 Rupee I was taken over. So my troubles were over quite easily. Continuing, I crossed the Jumma River bridge which had a railway bridge on top, a bullock cart lane to the left and vehicles to the right below. Once over the river I was in Delhi by the Red Fort.
Five days in Delhi were spent sightseeing but taking it quietly as Joy thought she had malaria. The Bantam had a clutch plate replaced and other minor work. The clutch still had problems after the work done on it and her headlight bulb failed but both were sorted in Agra.
She saw the Taj Mahal by moonlight and again by daylight – exactly three months after she had left New Zealand.
One of the two Indian motorcyclists Joy met 150 miles north of Bombay, 1 November 1955. Photo Geoff Clarke.
On the way to Bombay Joy stopped in a hilly area and spent a long time talking to two Indian motorcyclists going in the opposite direction. They had heard about a lone woman motorcyclist at a Shell service station at Berhampore and had been looking forward to a meeting. The only blemish to their trip was a spill that very morning which had left them with skinned knees and feeling stiff.
Further on, after stopping to admire the view, she noticed her back tyre was flat. She pumped it up and went on to a village where a large crowd gathered to watch. A ‘public carrier’ stopped to help. She would have preferred to have mended the tube by herself as she would have gone slower – and not pinched the tube causing it to go flat again.
Closer to Bombay while she was riding down a slope a boy driving a buffalo whacked it just as Joy was riding past. The buffalo started and Joy collided with it. She went flying off the bike across the road, bending the brake lever and right-hand footrest as well as grazing her right elbow. The damage was minimal because Joy was travelling at her usual 30 mph. The buffalo boy fled.
Joy had stayed six days in Bombay before sailing on the Kampala to Beira in Mozambique and she spent that time working through the red tape for exporting the Bantam, visiting the Post Office repeatedly to get a parcel she had posted to herself from Perth, sightseeing and having the Bantam serviced. The Bombay BSA agents did not charge for this. She also visited two maternity hospitals and again her impressions were recorded in great detail in her diary.
Joy had ridden 5908 miles during her 50 days in India.
Extracts from Joy McKean’s diaries of her 1955 to 1957 world trip, as compiled by her niece Catharine A. McKean and following Joy’s death, have been included with the permission of Catharine A. McKean’s estate and Julian K. McKean as the trustee of Joy McKean’s will. These diaries reflect the views and impressions of Joy McKean only and the language is that in use at the time her diaries were written.
Acknowledgements
Suzanne Barnaby
Geoff Clarke
Annice Collett, Vintage Motor Cycle Club
Steve Foden, BSA Owners Club librarian
Lynda Goulden
J. McKean
Bernard Kerr
Liz Robertson
Jane Skayman
Heather Woods, New Zealand Nurses Organisation
References
McKean, C. Midwife on World Safari. Privately printed for the McKean family.
Interview with Naomi Margaret (Joy) McKean, Date 21 May, 10 July 1984. Ref OHA-2175. Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
The Motor Cycle.
Trove. https://trove.nla.gov.au/
The map Joy drew showing her route round India. Photo Geoff Clarke.