Strzelecki Track is a mostly unsealed

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

track in

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 ...

, linking Innamincka to Lyndhurst.

History

The track was pioneered by stockman, drover and cattle thief. Harry Readford, iin 1870, who stole drove 1,000 head of cattle and drove them down the track, selling them at

Blanchewater Station Blanchewater Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the far north of South Australia. Description It is situated approximately north east of Lyndhurst and south west of Innamincka. The MacDonnell River traverses ...

and then fleeing to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Pastoralists then used it as a

stock route A stock route, also known as travelling stock route (TSR), is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic livestock such as sheep or cattle from one location to another in Australia. The stock routes across the country are colloquially ...

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After gas was discovered by Santos in the 1960s, it started carrying more traffic, as a route to

Moomba Moomba (also known as the Moomba Festival) is held annually in Melbourne, Australia. Run by the City of Melbourne, it is Australia's largest free community festival. The Melburnian tradition is celebrated over four days, incorporating the La ...

, and some sections were sealed.

Description

The track links Innamincka to Lyndhurst through the

Strzelecki Desert The Strzelecki Desert is located in the Far North Region of South Australia, South West Queensland and western New South Wales. It is positioned in the northeast of the Lake Eyre Basin, and north of the Flinders Ranges. Two other deserts occup ...

. It is mostly unsealed, but with a few short sealed sections to facilitate overtaking. It is passable to conventional vehicles during the dry season, although caution is required. The track is prone to flooding after heavy rains, and at other times the surface can be corrugated, with loose stones and dust. The Strzelecki Track is linked with the

Birdsville Track The Birdsville Track is a notable outback road in Australia. The track runs between Birdsville in south-western Queensland and Marree, a small town in the north-eastern part of South Australia. It traverses three deserts along the route, the St ...

via the Walkers Crossing Track, which is closed in summer and only traversible in dry weather. A shorter route is available via a public access road between

and Innamincka, making the distance .

Heritage listings

A number of isolated heritage-listed sites are located nearby to the Strzelecki Track: * Tinga Tingana Homestead Ruins * Gray's Tree * Well and Whim, Coochilara Waterhole, Merty Merty Station * Old Mulga Bore, Merty Merty Station

History

Description

Heritage listings

See also

References

External links

Further reading