Symptoms were;
Shaking violently when starting the car,
Loosing coolant,
Sounded like it backfired when I started the car
White milky paste under oil cap.
I had it serviced in Darwin and asked the mechanic to check the radiator as I was loosing coolant, he said it had the wrong radiator cap on it and replaced it, got down to Adelaide and that's when everything above started to happen. Took it to a mechanic here and he said the mechanic in Darwin had fitted the wrong radiator cap.
I don't think I can prove that this has caused the head gasket to go though.
When the mechanic in Adelaide compression tested it he just said that it was the head gasket and put the correct cap on the radiator.