There exists a photograph of a Royal Australian Air Force bulldozer being paraded on the back of a truck through the streets of Melbourne in front of an adoring crowd.
Taken on October 27, 1944, the image is a part of the machine parade, which took place in the second Victory Loan March through the city.
The march aimed to encourage the Australian public to buy war ‘victory’ loans to help finance the country’s involvement in the Second World War, one of 12 major government loan options from March 1944 until the end of the war.
But that poses a question – why would a dozer, and not tanks or fighter planes, be used to encourage the public to support Australia’s war efforts?
Well, as it turns out, bulldozers and other earthmoving machinery played a pivotal
