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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] |
Gary Highway
The Gary Highway is a remote unsealed track in central Western Australia running through the Gibson Desert and the Great Sandy Desert. It was built by Len Beadell's Gunbarrel Road Construction Party in April and May 1963 and named after Beadell's son, who was born in February that year. It connects the Gunbarrel Highway from Everard Junction in the south, to the Gary Junction Road at Gary Junction in the north. It is one of only two north-south tracks in the central deserts of Western Australia, the other being the Sandy Blight Junction Road, also built by Len Beadell. Points of interest The Gary Highway passes several interesting points in its desert crossing: * Veevers crater, accessible by a track to the east. The visitors' book contains entries from the original team who identified the crater. This meteorite explosion crater is one of only 15 known worldwide, and only 3 in Western Australia. A good description can be found in the Australian Government Heritage site. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connie Sue Highway
The Connie Sue Highway is an outback unsealed track that runs between the Aboriginal community of Warburton on the Great Central Road and Rawlinna on the Trans-Australian Railway. It lies entirely in the state of Western Australia, crosses the Great Victoria Desert and Nullarbor Plain, and is approximately long. History The Warburton-Rawlinna road was pioneered as part of a network of roads for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera, South Australia. Surveying began in July 1962, when Len Beadell, with wife Anne and baby Connie Sue, left Adelaide and travelled via the Stuart Highway and the Gunbarrel Highway to Warburton. From there they roughly south in his Land Rover, until reaching the approximate latitude of the Anne Beadell Highway, which was under construction from the east. Turning east, they drove another through the Great Victoria desert to a point west of Serpentine Lakes to join up with his Gunbarrel Road Construction Party (GRCP). They ran out of fuel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Beadell Highway
Anne Beadell Highway is an outback unsealed track linking Coober Pedy, South Australia, and Laverton, Western Australia, a total distance of . The track was surveyed and built by Len Beadell, Australian surveyor, who named it after his wife. The track passes through remote arid deserts and scrub territory of South Australia and Western Australia, which often have summer temperatures approaching . Sand dunes predominate for most of the track. Map and overview File:Anne Beadell Highway 0116.svg, The Anne Beadell Highway (depicted in purple) Map details as at 1972 The road was constructed to provide access for a series of surveys adding to the overall geodetic survey of unexplored parts of Australia. The information was required for rocket range projects at Woomera. Construction was completed in five stages, spanning nine years from 1953 to 1962. The first stage from Mabel Creek station near Coober Pedy, west towards Emu Field, was built in February and March 1953 to p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Smith (entrepreneur)
Richard Harold Smith (born 18 March 1944) is an Australian entrepreneur, aviator and philanthropist. He holds a number of aviation world records and is the founder of Dick Smith Electronics, ''Australian Geographic'' and Dick Smith Foods. He was selected as 1986 Australian of the Year. In 2010, he founded the media production company Smith&Nasht with the intention of producing films about global issues. In 2015, he was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia. He is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Early life Smith's father was a salesman and sometime manager at Angus & Robertson's bookstore. He started a business that failed when Smith was 17, and his mother a housewife. His maternal grandfather was pictorialist photographer Harold Cazneaux. As a child, Smith was considered academically hopeless and, having a speech defect, called himself "Dick Miff". From his home in East Roseville, Smith attended primary school at Roseville Public School at which, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Geographic
Australian Geographic is a media business that produces the ''Australian Geographic'' magazine, ''DMag'' magazine, specialist book titles, travel guides, diaries and calendars and online media. It published editions of the Australian Encyclopaedia. It previously operated the Australian Geographic retail chain stores and Australian Geographic Travel and Australian Geographic Adventures. ''Australian Geographic'' magazine, originally titled ''Dick Smith's Australian Geographic'', is a bi-monthly geographical journal created by Dick Smith in 1986. The magazine focuses mainly on stories about Australia, or about Australian people in other countries. The six editions published each year are available by subscription and on newsstands. They include posters or sheet maps in each edition, as well as photographs and detailed technical illustrations. Australian Geographic also has a website that includes the entire magazine digital archive. Each year, a portion of the profits is prov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
