The Gary Highway is a remote unsealed track in central
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
running through the
Gibson Desert and the
Great Sandy Desert. It was built by
Len Beadell
Leonard Beadell OAM BEM FIEMS (21 April 1923 – 12 May 1995) was a surveyor, road builder, bushman, artist and author, responsible for constructing over of roads and opening up isolated desert areas – some – of central Australia fr ...
's
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 buil ...
in April and May 1963 and named after Beadell's son, who was born in February that year.
It connects the
Gunbarrel Highway
The Gunbarrel Highway is an isolated desert track in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. It consists of about of washaways, heavy corrugations, stone, sand and flood plains. The Gunbarrel Highway connects Victory D ...
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.
*
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reac ...
, with several marker signs in different places, due to the shift of the tropics over time caused by the varying tilt of the Earth's axis, relative to its orbital plane.
*Windy Corner, the junction at the end of the
Talawana Track
The Talawana Track is a remote unsealed track that runs between Windy Corner on the Gary Highway and the Marble Bar Road in Western Australia, a distance of 596 kilometres. The majority of it was built by Len Beadell and the Gunbarrel Road Co ...
. The origins of the name "Windy Corner" can be read in Beadell's 1983 book ''End Of An Era''.
*McDougall Knoll, which is a good lookout point. There are notes from visitors contained in a tin can jammed in the cairn.
*The junction of the Eagle Highway, which is very overgrown most of its length.
*Patience Well, a well visited and named by David Carnegie in 1896, to the east of Windy Corner.
*The Gibson Desert Nature Reserve, which includes McPhersons Pillar. This is 30 km off the track but is a spectacular landmark with excellent views over the Gibson Desert and access to Mulgan Rockhole.
*Charlies Knob.
*Everard Junction on the Gunbarrel Highway, where there is a visitors book.
Description
The track is single lane, relatively clear of scrub, but corrugated over its entire length. It is mostly straight, except for a section from 22.85°S to 22.88°S where the track diverts around
sand dunes. It was navigable (Sep 2007) with a hard surface of sand and gravel. The southern end has several wash-aways in the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve.
The approximate length of the track is , including side trips to Veevers Crater and McPhersons Pillar. It is very remote with both ends being hundreds of kilometres from any settlements or supply points. An
HF radio
High frequency (HF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) between 3 and 30 megahertz (MHz). It is also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as its wavelengths range from one to te ...
or
satellite phone should be carried as there are no facilities along this track and travellers should be self-sufficient in fuel, food, water and vehicle support. The nearest northern supplies are at
Kunawarritji near Well 33 on the
Canning Stock Route and
Kiwirrkurra on the Gary Junction Road, or to the south some south east of Everard Junction at
Warburton Roadhouse or
Carnegie Station to the west.
Gallery
File:Gary Highway 26-Jun-2007.jpg, Gary Highway from Everard Junction
File:McPhersons Pillar.jpg, McPhersons Pillar
File:Mulgan Rockhole.jpg, Mulgan Rockhole
File:Veevers Crater pano 2.jpg, A panorama of Veevers Meteorite Crater
See also
References
{{Road infrastructure in Western Australia
Highways in rural Western Australia
Tracks in remote areas of Western Australia
Roads built by Len Beadell