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…

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…

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. The map tells you all sorts after acre of spinifex. It’s like driving on the Anne Beadell Highway, there to exhausting. muddy in places. Add the bizarre idyllic… until we got underway. Tallaringa Well Plaque, which fire in the windless warmth… of interesting things, but in reality through a formal garden. Long, it stood – a 70-Series Land Cruiser We reached a 35-mile stretch landscape, which is pock-marked by The going was smooth to start with, celebrates Len Beadell’s pioneering whereupon it started raining again. there’s nothing to see. It feels red sand dunes started to spring pulling a strong overlanding trailer of road through a ‘culturally thousands of spoil heaps from the but then the corrugations started. work to open up the Outback. Just softly, but it clearly wasn’t going exciting nonetheless, but in a up around us, too, clustered with behind it. sensitive’ region in which camping opal mining industry which brought And they were savage, violent, Beyond this, too, we approached to let up so eventually we retreated chilling sort of way. vegetation and providing another We spent the evening chatting is forbidden. Our friends from last people here in the first place, and throwing us up and down over big, Ground Zero – the exact point into our Land Cruiser’s pop-up There are two obelisks to mark layer of softness to the barren together around the campfire they night, with whom we had been it doesn’t feel as if you’re about to rough waves as we struggled to get where the British nuclear test was tent and fell asleep to the sound of the site, but mainly there are signs landscape. The trail was much more had already made, until the rain driving in convoy this morning, spend a week in the wilderness. above 10mph. carried out. raindrops on the canvas. telling you not to settle there pleasant again now, meandering came back at around ten o’clock to decided to stop here for lunch,

Right: Corrugations. These are the bad guys, and there are sections on the Anne Beadell with enough of them to drive you nuts Below: Just in case you fancied moving in to a featureless, irradiated wasteland next to one of the most desolate roads in the entire world… sorry, but you can’t

4x4 AUGUST 2019 | 63 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…

4x4 AUGUST 2019 | 63 of the desert floor. The Toyota got After that, it felt less and less facilities and was therefore ideal imagine. Afterwards, we strolled covered in salt and clay mud here, like being in the wilderness. A fibre for a few days’ on-the-spot rest back to spent the night aboard our which we weren’t overjoyed about optic cable was being laid next – as well of course as vehicle trusty Toyota. (she’s our home, and we put a lot of to the road, and the search for maintenance, which in this case After a week in the empty, silent effort into keeping her clean), and minerals was indeed up and running. meant removing the steering guard company of Anne Beadell, sleeping then we found the remnants of Yeo As were we, cruising the last part for a full inspection of what lay with street lights around us and Farm – now a camp site, where a of the Anne Beadell Highway until behind it, as we’d been hearing the road trains rumbling by through the solo traveller in yet another Toyota finally we rolled into Laverton. occasional noise from down there. night was something we weren’t came wandering over for a chat and What is there to do in Laverton? We took a walk through the used to. And yet, it was too familiar. Top left: Outback wifi has really come on in the last few years then, a little later, we made friends Go to Leonora, mainly. Laverton village – or at least, the 300-metre Turn back the way we had just with another family of camels. itself has a museum dedicated to main road along which it’s huddled. come? It was tempting. Above left: You’ll see camels strolling around this landscape as frequently as you’ll see deer in Britain A ‘no trespassing’ sign in the the great explorers of the western Here’s a fascinating fact: prior to No to worry, though, the next Above right: The wreck of a light aircraft is one of the primary attractions as you travel along the Anne Beadell. It looks Cosmo Newberry Aboriginal Outback, and a ‘deli’ where it becoming President of the USA, part of our itinerary around more like a heavy landing than a full-on crash; what’s known is that it happened in January 1993 and all those on board Reserve, which warned of an active would probably have appeared Herbert Hoover lived and worked Australia was already planned. From survived. The plane remained intact for a while, but in the time that’s passed someone has had its engines away and it’s search for minerals in the area, rude not to order a burger, but it’s in Leonora. So inevitably there’s a here, we would be heading towards been shot several times. Because who wouldn’t travel all that way just to shoot at a wrecked plane? The site is a few held us up for a while. In fact, it a sleepy old place. Especially on White House Hotel, and Hoover’s Darwin – which meant traversing miles from the highway itself, accessed by a track someone created a couple of years after the crash convinced us to camp right next Sundays, we discovered. former home has become the the infamous Canning Stock Route. to it and sit basking in the evening So having spent so much time Hoover B&B. Our time with Anne Beadell was but we wanted to press on so we driven sand with just the occasional week earlier we’d have made the up early the next morning, cruising sun with a drink in one hand and a getting there, we were soon A beer in the White House bar done – but already, the desert was said our goodbyes and headed for washboard – though even these acquaintance of about a hundred smoothly along a beautifully flat book in another. Shucks. motoring on. Leonora has proper was very, very welcome, as you can calling us back… the border with Western Australia. could be skipped over at a good Aborigines from the Spinifex Tribe, section of the highway – through a Here, a billboard announced that 25mph or so. who camped there on the way to a landscape which had clearly seen a we were just under a hundred miles Having paused to let a family of tribal gathering. brush fire in recent times from Ilkurlka – the only roadhouse camels reunite after being panicked We bought a few odds and ends We reached the junction with on the Anne Beadell, and our one by our arrival and ended up on and paid for our water, showers the Connie Sue Highway, another chance for a shower en route! opposite sides of the track, we and wifi. Possibly the most remote of Len Beadell’s creations, which is For now, though, we continued upped our pace still further for a wifi in the world? Either way, how named after his daughter. Connie to do it on our own. Amid beautiful section of the track whose surface on earth did Len Beadell manage to Sue Beadell continues to run an dune pans, we found a great spot could best be described as giga built this road without it…? Outback tour company to this day, to camp, eat, sleep and check over waves. Take them fast or take them By now we were more than and she had written the preface our truck. If anything was ready to slow, there’s no middle ground halfway to Laverton, and close to in the guest book we found at the work loose, all that bumping would – and we were trying to reach reaching one of the most famous intersection. There can’t be many certainly find it – but no, the Toyota Ilkurlka for lunch, so taking them landmarks on the Anne Beadell – people with a highway named after had endured yet again. slow wasn’t really an option. the wreck of a light aircraft. You them who didn’t have to pay for the We gathered wood, cooked and Again, the Land Cruiser was take a detour off the track – a privilege one way of the other… warmed ourselves by the fire. When unperturbed by all this punishment. sign says it’s ’10km give or take a The Anne Beadell shows signs of the sun disappears in the desert, it And so we rolled in to Ilkurlka couple of sand dunes’ and there it more frequent use from here on, cools quickly. The sky was clear for unperturbed – to be met by is. A crash? An emergency landing? but it’s still very quiet. We paused at the first time in many, many nights. Graham, the manager, his two dogs Either way, it’s not taking off again a memorial plate for Anne herself, The moon had not yet risen, and and precisely no other people. any time soon. who died in 2009 (some fourteen above us was a dome of stars. Life To be fair, this remarkably sleek, Having explored the wreckage of years after Len), then took a detour was perfect. modern building has been called the old plane from the Goldfields to Yeo Lake Nature Reserve. So too was Anne Beadell’s mood the most remote roadhouse in Air Service, we camped next to Along the track on the way here, from here on. The corrugations Australia, so perhaps that’s no it and enjoyed another star dome a magnificent rock mesa called had now given way to soft , easily great surprise. Having said that, a from horizon to horizon. We were Bishop Riley’s Pulpit rises up out ‘If anything was ready to work loose, all that bumping would certainly find it – but no, the Toyota had endured yet again’

64 | AUGUST 2019 4x4 of the desert floor. The Toyota got After that, it felt less and less facilities and was therefore ideal imagine. Afterwards, we strolled covered in salt and clay mud here, like being in the wilderness. A fibre for a few days’ on-the-spot rest back to spent the night aboard our which we weren’t overjoyed about optic cable was being laid next – as well of course as vehicle trusty Toyota. (she’s our home, and we put a lot of to the road, and the search for maintenance, which in this case After a week in the empty, silent effort into keeping her clean), and minerals was indeed up and running. meant removing the steering guard company of Anne Beadell, sleeping then we found the remnants of Yeo As were we, cruising the last part for a full inspection of what lay with street lights around us and Farm – now a camp site, where a of the Anne Beadell Highway until behind it, as we’d been hearing the road trains rumbling by through the solo traveller in yet another Toyota finally we rolled into Laverton. occasional noise from down there. night was something we weren’t came wandering over for a chat and What is there to do in Laverton? We took a walk through the used to. And yet, it was too familiar. Top left: Outback wifi has really come on in the last few years then, a little later, we made friends Go to Leonora, mainly. Laverton village – or at least, the 300-metre Turn back the way we had just with another family of camels. itself has a museum dedicated to main road along which it’s huddled. come? It was tempting. Above left: You’ll see camels strolling around this landscape as frequently as you’ll see deer in Britain A ‘no trespassing’ sign in the the great explorers of the western Here’s a fascinating fact: prior to No to worry, though, the next Above right: The wreck of a light aircraft is one of the primary attractions as you travel along the Anne Beadell. It looks Cosmo Newberry Aboriginal Outback, and a ‘deli’ where it becoming President of the USA, part of our itinerary around more like a heavy landing than a full-on crash; what’s known is that it happened in January 1993 and all those on board Reserve, which warned of an active would probably have appeared Herbert Hoover lived and worked Australia was already planned. From survived. The plane remained intact for a while, but in the time that’s passed someone has had its engines away and it’s search for minerals in the area, rude not to order a burger, but it’s in Leonora. So inevitably there’s a here, we would be heading towards been shot several times. Because who wouldn’t travel all that way just to shoot at a wrecked plane? The site is a few held us up for a while. In fact, it a sleepy old place. Especially on White House Hotel, and Hoover’s Darwin – which meant traversing miles from the highway itself, accessed by a track someone created a couple of years after the crash convinced us to camp right next Sundays, we discovered. former home has become the the infamous Canning Stock Route. to it and sit basking in the evening So having spent so much time Hoover B&B. Our time with Anne Beadell was but we wanted to press on so we driven sand with just the occasional week earlier we’d have made the up early the next morning, cruising sun with a drink in one hand and a getting there, we were soon A beer in the White House bar done – but already, the desert was said our goodbyes and headed for washboard – though even these acquaintance of about a hundred smoothly along a beautifully flat book in another. Shucks. motoring on. Leonora has proper was very, very welcome, as you can calling us back… the border with Western Australia. could be skipped over at a good Aborigines from the Spinifex Tribe, section of the highway – through a Here, a billboard announced that 25mph or so. who camped there on the way to a landscape which had clearly seen a we were just under a hundred miles Having paused to let a family of tribal gathering. brush fire in recent times from Ilkurlka – the only roadhouse camels reunite after being panicked We bought a few odds and ends We reached the junction with on the Anne Beadell, and our one by our arrival and ended up on and paid for our water, showers the Connie Sue Highway, another chance for a shower en route! opposite sides of the track, we and wifi. Possibly the most remote of Len Beadell’s creations, which is For now, though, we continued upped our pace still further for a wifi in the world? Either way, how named after his daughter. Connie to do it on our own. Amid beautiful section of the track whose surface on earth did Len Beadell manage to Sue Beadell continues to run an dune pans, we found a great spot could best be described as giga built this road without it…? Outback tour company to this day, to camp, eat, sleep and check over waves. Take them fast or take them By now we were more than and she had written the preface our truck. If anything was ready to slow, there’s no middle ground halfway to Laverton, and close to in the guest book we found at the work loose, all that bumping would – and we were trying to reach reaching one of the most famous intersection. There can’t be many certainly find it – but no, the Toyota Ilkurlka for lunch, so taking them landmarks on the Anne Beadell – people with a highway named after had endured yet again. slow wasn’t really an option. the wreck of a light aircraft. You them who didn’t have to pay for the We gathered wood, cooked and Again, the Land Cruiser was take a detour off the track – a privilege one way of the other… warmed ourselves by the fire. When unperturbed by all this punishment. sign says it’s ’10km give or take a The Anne Beadell shows signs of the sun disappears in the desert, it And so we rolled in to Ilkurlka couple of sand dunes’ and there it more frequent use from here on, cools quickly. The sky was clear for unperturbed – to be met by is. A crash? An emergency landing? but it’s still very quiet. We paused at the first time in many, many nights. Graham, the manager, his two dogs Either way, it’s not taking off again a memorial plate for Anne herself, The moon had not yet risen, and and precisely no other people. any time soon. who died in 2009 (some fourteen above us was a dome of stars. Life To be fair, this remarkably sleek, Having explored the wreckage of years after Len), then took a detour was perfect. modern building has been called the old plane from the Goldfields to Yeo Lake Nature Reserve. So too was Anne Beadell’s mood the most remote roadhouse in Air Service, we camped next to Along the track on the way here, from here on. The corrugations Australia, so perhaps that’s no it and enjoyed another star dome a magnificent rock mesa called had now given way to soft , easily great surprise. Having said that, a from horizon to horizon. We were Bishop Riley’s Pulpit rises up out ‘If anything was ready to work loose, all that bumping would certainly find it – but no, the Toyota had endured yet again’

64 | AUGUST 2019 4x4