Maralinga to Emu Road is a remote unsealed outback track that links

Maralinga Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s. In January 1985 native title was granted to the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aborig ...

Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The emu ...

in the western region of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. 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 ...

for the Weapons Research Establishment of

Salisbury, South Australia Salisbury is a northern suburb in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the seat of the City of Salisbury, and in the South Australian Legislative Assembly electoral district of Ramsay and the Australian House of Representatives division of Spence. ...

in 1955.

History

Following two successful atomic bomb tests at Emu in October 1953, a new site with better access for men and equipment was needed. Beadell had selected and surveyed the sites for Woomera and Emu, so he was asked once again to locate a more suitable site for further nuclear tests. He carried out a solo reconnaissance in the southern

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cros ...

, locating a suitable site north north-east of Watson siding on the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the east ...

. Beadell spent most of 1954 and the first half of 1955 carrying out survey work for the establishment of the township of what was to become Maralinga. When the work was completed, it was necessary to link the old bomb testing field and the new one by road, so Beadell carried out a survey north to Emu in early August 1955, naming Observatory Hill on the way. Once back at Maralinga, he assembled a team with a bulldozer and grader and they began building a road to Emu, beginning on 19 August 1955. The team was later dubbed the

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 ...

by Beadell as a joke, but the name stuck and passed into folklore. When the road was within of Emu, the bulldozer was recalled to Maralinga. Another had been left at Emu following the bomb test two years earlier, so it was obtained to complete the road to Emu, which occurred on 17 September 1955.

Footnote

After construction of a road from Mabel Creek to Emu in early 1953 (see

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. Th ...

), this road was effectively the second road built by Beadell. He had bulldozed a track from the centreline of the firing range to intercept the Mabel Creek to Emu road in late 1953. The builder of the section from Watson siding to Maralinga is not documented in references used, and is additional to the length built by Beadell.

References

{{Road infrastructure in South Australia Roads built by Len Beadell Australian outback tracks Roads in South Australia

History

Footnote

See also

References