Tommy,
Thanks for the location of the image: Ahhhh, captions: don't ya just love em? See full caption below: Says its 1960s, then that the Contractor entered service in 1970, then that it was moving vintage tanks to the Armoured Museum, which puts in well past 1977 when Centurion left service and was placed into storage. The tanks were not allocated to the Museum until the t980s, and the dual highway would tend to support a later date than the 1960s. And the fleet's primary function was moving the Main Battle Tank of the period, for all manner of units, not just 1AR: 1COD, 4Base, Armoured Centre, RAEME Training Centre....
Am yet to locate my copy of the image for the ARN...
Mike C
"Moving armoured vehicles
Hume Highway 1960s
158 Tk Tptr Pl of 26 Coy was reequipped with the Leyland Contractor prime mover in 1970, making it once more an effective operator, the previous wartime carryover Diamond Ts having long passed effective life.
While the platoon's primary function was movement of the Centurion tank fleet of 1st Armoured Regiment, its heavy lift capacity was put to various other uses. Here the unit is assisting in moving vintage tanks to Puckapunyal to form part to the armoured museum collection."