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Gunbarrel Road Construction Party
The Gunbarrel Road Construction Party (GRCP) was the name bestowed upon a team of road builders by Len Beadell in 1955, after which the well known outback track Gunbarrel Highway was named. Over a period of eight years, Beadell and the GRCP built more than 6,000 kilometres of dirt roads in remote areas of central Australia for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera, South Australia. By the time they had completed their work in December 1963, the GRCP had built eleven major roads in twenty-four separate stages across South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Background In Len Beadell's book ''Beating about the Bush'', he explained how the name of the party was derived. During many kilometres of driving around sand-ridges and spinifex hummocks, the mental picture of a corkscrew kept appearing before his mind's eye, when the word "straight" described what was desired. Suddenly the word "gunbarrel" representing something very straight materialised in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giles Weather Station
Giles Weather Station (also referred to as Giles Meteorological Station or Giles) is located in Western Australia near the Northern Territory border, about west-south-west of Alice Springs and west of Uluru. It is the only staffed weather station within an area of about and is situated mid-continent and near the core of the subtropical jetstream. This means it plays an important role as a weather and climate observatory for the country, particularly eastern and southeastern Australia, and particularly for rainfall predictions. The station is on the Great Central Road and the nearest township is the Warakurna Aboriginal settlement (population 180), North. Giles is within the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku and is in the foothills of the Rawlinson Ranges. A staff of three operates the remote station on six-monthly tours. Giles Airport, a airstrip services the station and the Warakurna community. Tourists are invited to watch the daily release of weather balloons and browse throug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vokes Hill Corner To Cook Road
Vokes Hill Corner to Cook Road is a remote unsealed outback track that links Vokes Hill Corner on the Anne Beadell Highway to Cook on the Trans-Australian Railway in the far west of South Australia. It was built by Len Beadell for the Australian Government's Weapons Research Establishment in late 1961. Background The Vokes Hill Corner to Cook road was built as part of a series of roads that were constructed to support the Woomera Rocket Range project during the 1950s and 1960s. The road provided access to the Trans-Australian Railway line for ease of re-supply, while construction of the Anne Beadell Highway was still taking place. It also completed a loop together with the Maralinga to Emu Road so that Native Patrol Officers could monitor the movements of Aboriginal people through the desert. Reconnaissance for the road was made difficult as the direction of sand ridges was across the path of Beadell's vehicle, and the northern half of the track was through thick mulga scru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandy Blight Junction Road
The Sandy Blight Junction Road is a remote outback track in Australia joining the Great Central Road, Western Australia and Gary Junction Road, Northern Territory. It was built under the direction of legendary surveyor Len Beadell as part of a network of roads for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera, South Australia. It is located approximately west of Alice Springs. History Following construction of the Gunbarrel Highway (completed in 1958), Beadell and the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party were tasked to survey and build a road connecting it with a proposed east-west road some further north. The requirement was related to future National Mapping Council surveys for the Woomera Rocket Range. On 31 March 1960, Beadell selected a stand of desert oak trees south-east of Giles as the commencement point for the road. From there the road steered north-east past Schwerin Mural Crescent (named by Ernest Giles in 1874) then veered north towards Walter James Range. W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Davies Road
Mount Davies Road is a remote unsealed outback track which runs from Mount Davies ( Pipalyatjara) in the far north-west corner of South Australia to Anne's Corner on the Anne Beadell Highway 397 kilometres to the south-east. It was built during 1956 and 1957 by the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party (GRCP) surveyed and led by Len Beadell, for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera, South Australia. Road survey As a result of British atomic tests at Emu Field in 1953, a weather station was needed to the far north-west of the test sites, to determine when suitable weather conditions existed for future tests. Len Beadell was given the task of selecting a team and constructing access roads from the test locality to the future weather station. The weather station was named Giles, after the explorer Ernest Giles who had explored that part of the remote inland. The access road began at Victory Downs in the Northern Territory and became known as the Gunbarrel Highway. The con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kintore Avenue
Mount Davies Road is a remote unsealed outback track which runs from Mount Davies ( Pipalyatjara) in the far north-west corner of South Australia to Anne's Corner on the Anne Beadell Highway 397 kilometres to the south-east. It was built during 1956 and 1957 by the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party (GRCP) surveyed and led by Len Beadell, for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera, South Australia. Road survey As a result of British atomic tests at Emu Field in 1953, a weather station was needed to the far north-west of the test sites, to determine when suitable weather conditions existed for future tests. Len Beadell was given the task of selecting a team and constructing access roads from the test locality to the future weather station. The weather station was named Giles, after the explorer Ernest Giles who had explored that part of the remote inland. The access road began at Victory Downs in the Northern Territory and became known as the Gunbarrel Highway. The co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Junction Road
The Gary Junction Road is an outback unsealed road in Australia built by Len Beadell in the 1960s as part of a network of roads for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera, South Australia. In its original form, the Gary Junction Road ran from Liebig bore in the Northern Territory to Callawa Station in Western Australia. On present day maps, it is depicted as running from the Tanami Road (Narwietooma Station, Narwietooma turnoff) to Gary Junction, just east of the Canning Stock Route, a distance of 852 kilometres. The road was named after Beadell's only son Gary. File:Gary Junction Road 0216 map.svg, Map of the original Gary Junction Road 1350 km in length. History Beadell and his Gunbarrel Road Construction Party (GRCP) commenced work immediately after completing the Sandy Blight Junction Road in August 1960. Starting from Sandy Blight Junction, the first stage was built towards an existing bore track near Mount Liebig 180 km to the east (67 km west of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
