Birdsville Track
Encyclopedia
Outback
The Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
road in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The 517
1 E5 m
A length of 100 kilometers , as a rough amount, is relatively common in measurements on Earth and for some astronomical objects.It is the altitude at which the FAI defines spaceflight to begin....
km track runs from Marree
Marree, South Australia
Marree is a small town located in the north of South Australia. It lies North of Adelaide at the junction of the Oodnadatta Track and the Birdsville Track, above sea level. The area is the home of the Dieri people. At the 2006 census, Marree had a population of 70.The town was home to Australia's...
, a small town in northern South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, north across the Tirari Desert
Tirari Desert
The Tirari Desert is a desert in the eastern part of the Far North region of South Australia.-Location and description:The Tirari Desert features salt lakes and large north-south running sand dunes....
and Sturt Stony Desert, ending in Birdsville
Birdsville, Queensland
-External links:*...
in south western Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
.
In former years the track was of a very poor quality and suitable only for high-clearance four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
vehicles, but it has been upgraded to a full-scale dirt road and is now a popular tourist route. It is also used by stock trucks carrying livestock.
The path traverses the driest part of the country with less than an average 100 mm of rainfall annually. The area is extremely barren, dry and isolated, and anyone wishing to travel the track must carry fresh water, supplies, fuel, and spare parts for their vehicle with them in case of emergencies.
History
The track was opened in the 1860s to bring cattle from northern Queensland and Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
to the nearest railhead
Railhead
The word railhead is a railway term with two distinct meanings, depending upon its context.Sometimes, particularly in the context of modern freight terminals, the word is used to denote a terminus of a railway line, especially if the line is not yet finished, or if the terminus interfaces with...
s Port Augusta
Port Augusta, South Australia
-Electricity generation:Electricity is generated at the Playford B and Northern power stations from brown coal mined at Leigh Creek, 250 km to the north...
and later Marree
Marree, South Australia
Marree is a small town located in the north of South Australia. It lies North of Adelaide at the junction of the Oodnadatta Track and the Birdsville Track, above sea level. The area is the home of the Dieri people. At the 2006 census, Marree had a population of 70.The town was home to Australia's...
. The pioneering drover that is credited with establishing the track was Percy Burt. Burt setup a store at Diamantina Crossing, today known as Birdsville, and used the path to bring cattle out of the Channel Country
Channel Country
The Channel Country is region of outback Australia located mostly in the state of Queensland but also in portions of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous intertwined rivulets that cross the region, which cover 150,000 km²...
to the railhead at Maree that was completed in 1883. This stock route
Stock route
In Australia, the Travelling Stock Route is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic livestock such as sheep or cattle from one location to another...
was more than 1000 km shorter than the alternative path to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
.
By 1916 enough bores
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
had been sunk into the Great Artesian Basin
Great Artesian Basin
The Great Artesian Basin provides the only reliable source of freshwater through much of inland Australia. The basin is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over a total of , with temperatures measured ranging from 30°C to 100°C...
along the route, that the movement of stock was much easier and safer than in earlier years. Bores were drilled at 40 km intervals.
Over the years the Birdsville track became one of the country's most isolated and best known stock routes as well as a mail route made famous by outback legend Tom Kruse
Tom Kruse (mailman)
Esmond Gerald Kruse, MBE was a former mailman on the Birdsville Track in the border area between South Australia and Queensland...
. Tom Kruse and the Track were immortalised in the 1954 documentary film made by John Heyer
John Heyer
John Whitefoord Heyer was an Australian documentary filmmaker, who is often described as the father of Australian documentary film....
, The Back of Beyond
The Back of Beyond
The Back of Beyond is a feature-length award-winning Australian documentary film produced and directed by John Heyer for the Shell Film Unit. In terms of breadth of distribution, awards garnered, and critical response, it is Heyer's most successful film...
. Kruse's services ceased in 1963 to be replaced by an air service from Adelaide that started in 1970.
In 2006, as part of the Year of the Outback, the Australian Governor-General
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
, Michael Jeffrey
Michael Jeffrey
Michael Jeffery may refer to:*Michael Jeffery , 24th Governor-General of Australia* Michael Jeffery , music business manager of guitarist Jimi Hendrix and The Animals-See also:...
, traveled along the track in a 5-day event.
Today
Up until the 1930s only stock and camel trains would take the Birdsville track. Nowadays it has become a very popular track. As a result, the track is reasonably well maintained and generally fairly smooth. However like any outback track, its condition can change, especially after rain. Large stretches of the track can still be destroyed by flash flooding and drifting sand.Fuel, supplies and facilities, including a hotel, can be found on the track at the Mungeranie
Mungeranie, South Australia
Mungeranie or Mungerannie, also called Mungerannie Hotel or Mungerannie Station, is a homestead on the Birdsville Track in northeastern South Australia....
station (population: 3), 204 km from Marree and 313 km from Birdsville.
See also
- Highways in AustraliaHighways in AustraliaThis is a list of highways in Australia, listed alphabetically along with each highway's route number and location. Note that some highways service more than one state or territory.-Route numbering systems:...
- List of highways in Queensland
- List of highways in South Australia