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YOU TAKE THE HIGH WAY… The Anne Beadell Highway is an 823-mile Outback trail passing the site of an atom bomb test – and very little else… uring his life, celebrated Australian Field – which had been identified explorer, artist, author as a suitable location for British and surveyor Len atomic bomb tests. It skirts round DBeadell was responsible for building to the north of the Woomera some 3700 miles of unsealed roads military reserve and passes through in the Outback. Almost a quarter Aboriginal lands and restricted of this distance is accounted for by conservation areas, and it’s cut by the first road he started work on both rabbit and dog fences. – the Anne Beadell Highway. Thus you need a lot of permits Named by Beadell after his to drive the Anne Beadell. And even wife, this isn’t a ‘highway’ in the then, it’s apt to be closed when traditional sense. In fact, it’s said Woomera is in use. But given the that he used the word, here and right paperwork, and favourable elsewhere, with the humour for conditions, it can be done in which he was to become known. something like five days. Built in five stages between 1953 That’s what we set out to do and 1962, the road is an unsealed as part of a much bigger expedition ribbon of sand, stone and, often, around Australia aboard our corrugations which stretches 100-Series Toyota Land Cruiser. some 823 miles across the Great And sure enough, our departure Victoria Desert from Coober was delayed by military operations Pedy to Laverton. in Woomera. Someone in Coober The road was originally Pedy told us the USAF was testing commissioned in the post-war a new version of the Stealth years to provide access to Emu bomber, which obviously wasn’t Top: Whoever wrote this sign definitely doesn't want you to go into the desert without knowing what you're letting yourself in for. Imagine London to Edinburgh and back, without services, fuel, shops, nothing, and on a rough green lane. That’s Anne Beadell’s legacy to the world… Below: The Outback is a dry, arid place – the sign above even points out that this is one of the most waterless regions of Australia. So turn up and what happens? It rains, obviously WORDS AND PICTURES: BETTY VAN BREUKELEN AND GERARD VAN VLIET 60 | AUGUST 2019 4x4 4x4 YOU TAKE THE HIGH WAY… The Anne Beadell Highway is an 823-mile Outback trail passing the site of an atom bomb test – and very little else… uring his life, celebrated Australian Field – which had been identified explorer, artist, author as a suitable location for British and surveyor Len atomic bomb tests. It skirts round DBeadell was responsible for building to the north of the Woomera some 3700 miles of unsealed roads military reserve and passes through in the Outback. Almost a quarter Aboriginal lands and restricted of this distance is accounted for by conservation areas, and it’s cut by the first road he started work on both rabbit and dog fences. – the Anne Beadell Highway. Thus you need a lot of permits Named by Beadell after his to drive the Anne Beadell. And even wife, this isn’t a ‘highway’ in the then, it’s apt to be closed when traditional sense. In fact, it’s said Woomera is in use. But given the that he used the word, here and right paperwork, and favourable elsewhere, with the humour for conditions, it can be done in which he was to become known. something like five days. Built in five stages between 1953 That’s what we set out to do and 1962, the road is an unsealed as part of a much bigger expedition ribbon of sand, stone and, often, around Australia aboard our corrugations which stretches 100-Series Toyota Land Cruiser. some 823 miles across the Great And sure enough, our departure Victoria Desert from Coober was delayed by military operations Pedy to Laverton. in Woomera. Someone in Coober The road was originally Pedy told us the USAF was testing commissioned in the post-war a new version of the Stealth years to provide access to Emu bomber, which obviously wasn’t Top: Whoever wrote this sign definitely doesn't want you to go into the desert without knowing what you're letting yourself in for. Imagine London to Edinburgh and back, without services, fuel, shops, nothing, and on a rough green lane. That’s Anne Beadell’s legacy to the world… Below: The Outback is a dry, arid place – the sign above even points out that this is one of the most waterless regions of Australia. So turn up and what happens? It rains, obviously WORDS AND PICTURES: BETTY VAN BREUKELEN AND GERARD VAN VLIET 60 | AUGUST 2019 4x4 4x4 Overlanders tend to be pretty assiduous about keeping their vehicles clean. It’s your home, after all, and you depend on it not to break down for the want of a regular hose-off underneath. But then something like this comes along… A feature of the sandy terrain to live, nor to kill and eat any in and out of the curves of the chase us off to bed. Again. But the here is that when it rains, the kangaroos you happen to see in landscape – no longer did it feel like following morning, praise be, the Two very different messages from the same corner of the Outback. The original Ground Zero was the site of a British road surface is smoothed off. the vicinity. Today’s signs are given an effort but just a journey to enjoy. sun emerged in all its glory! We had nuclear test in 1953 which was the original reason for the Anne Beadell Highway being built. At the track’s intersection Not enough to get rid of those in pictorial form, too – because the It got better still, too, when almost forgotten how wonderful with the Connie Sue Highway, a visitor’s book left by Connie Sue herself, Len and Anne Beadell’s daughter, greets corrugations, sadly, but it does Aboriginal tribespeople who lived we picked up a set of tyre tracks. that is – and from now on, the travellers on the roads her father built allow you to see whether you’re here, and still do, might not be able We had noticed by now that landscape was lit up beautifully. the first to pass that day – which, to read. It made us realise that at whereas we were content just to The part of the Great Victoria stealthy enough to go unnoticed by We allowed ten days for the Meeting some drivers coming We read that the heat of the the following morning, we were. It the time of the tests, indigenous pitch up and camp wherever we Desert we were cruising through is Aussie bushmen. journey, but by the time we made the other way, we were relieved detonation turned the desert was dry now, though still grey, but Australians may have been roaming fancied, Aussie travellers prefer marked as ‘woodland’ on the map. Not to worry, Coober Pedy is camp at the end of day one we to hear that though it would get sand into glass – and also that this little part of Anne Beadell was in the area, knowing nothing of to search out clear locations with It’s no a dense forest by any means, a pretty interesting place to hang suspected we wouldn’t need them worse before it got better, they had there would still be radioactive untouched. It was our Toyota that the nuclear danger that had been more space around them – so we but with the variety of black desert out – even when it’s raining. This all. Our Land Cruiser was purring only taken six days to drive from contamination lingering on the got to draw the first beautiful tyre brought into their midst. guessed that having spent the night oaks, many kinds of shrubs and a doesn’t happen very often, but it did as we passed through a dog fence Laverton. To keep up a pace like ground. Exciting. But we were tracks upon the surface, giving us a Further on, nature’s beauty took at Emu Junction (we knew that mixture of spiky spherical pollen while we were there. Driving out and into the Tallaringa Conservation that in the sort of conditions we reassured to think that it couldn’t moment of satisfaction which was back over. The corrugations started much, because it’s where the tracks and gently welcoming ring spinifex of town (which doesn’t feel much Park before kicking back and were enduring at the time would be really serious, otherwise no way soon shattered as we got closer to to subside and the blooms of started), they’d be heading for a bushes, it does feel surprisingly lush. like a town, because it has less then enjoying the intense desert silence be impossible, which means the would anyone be allowed anywhere Ground Zero and the state of the vegetation started to take over the night at Vokes Hill Corner. All was well with the world… until 2000 inhabitants and a good bit of it while tucking into rib-eye steaks road would improve further on for near the place. ground became worse than ever. land – desert oaks, acacias and grey- Sure enough, when we arrived at the corrugations came back, and is built underground to keep out of done on the campfire. certain. A relief! We camped about an hour from The Atomic Site is a vast, barren green mulga trees, as well as acre Vokes Hill, which is just a T-junction soon the going had gone from easy the sun), the road was flooded and The next morning was similarly We stopped for lunch at the the test site, relaxing around the plain.

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