Len Beadell

Len Beadell

Leonard (Len) Beadell OAM BEM (born 1923 in West Pennant Hills , New South Wales , † May 12, 1995 ) was an Australian surveyor , road builder (about 6,500 km), Bushman and author; responsible for developing the last of the remote desert areas (approximately 2.5 million square kilometers) in central Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. Len is sometimes referred to as "the last Australian explorer".

Exploration

While working as a surveyor in the Australian Army (Army Survey Corps), he was commissioned by the government in 1947 to build a road through the middle of Australia in order to find a suitable place for weapons tests. This led to the development of the test site at Woomera and Maralinga (aboriginal for thunder), where a British atomic bomb was later tested. Both locations were explored and selected by Len Beadell.

Gunbarrel Highway

His first road was the Gunbarrel Highway , named for its team, "Gunbarrel Crew" - he said he always try the road as straight as a gun barrel (Gunbarrel) to build. Len Beadell began construction by scouting the area by driving his Land Rover through the bush. He determined his longitude and latitude by astronomical navigation . After determining the rough course of the route, a bulldozer first roughly removed all of the Spinifex and Mulga bushes , and a grader then leveled the road.

The Gunbarrel Highway was built from east to west, beginning on the Stuart Highway south of Alice Springs and continuing west to the Rawlinson Ranges . In the further course he bypasses the Gibson Desert south , past the mission at Warburton , to meet an already existing road after about 1400 km at Carnegie Station . Len Beadell's accounts of the construction of the highway can be found in his first book Too Long in the Bush and give an insight into what a great achievement he has achieved with it. The many technical problems, countless flat tires and the fact that he was almost dying of thirst, all that in the scorching desert heat, he always dealt with with humor.

Later streets

After the Gunbarrel Highway, Beadell built other roads using the same method; most of them he named after his family. The Connie Sue Highway for his daughter, the Gary Highway and Gary Junction Road for his son and the Anne Beadell Highway for his wife. The Sandy Blight Junction Road but its name has been plagued by an eye disease that Len Beadell during construction. All of these roads have made the Australian outback accessible for a wide variety of purposes. In addition, he selected and measured the location for the Giles Meteorological Station .

legacy

Len Beadell marked many waypoints along his streets with aluminum signs with latitude, longitude and other information stamped on them. Many of these signs were stolen by souvenir hunters, but a program is in place to replace them with true-to-original copies. Beadell's name appears in many places on Australian road maps. In addition to geographical conditions, such as Mt. Beadell, things such as "Len Beadell's Tree" or "Len Beadell's Burnt Out Truck" are often given, the only orientation aids in a huge, otherwise contourless landscape.

Today, the newer Great Central Road has replaced many of Beadell's tracks. The more direct route was only possible with modern, heavy machinery. Nevertheless, all of the old roads still exist and are mostly used by all-wheel drive enthusiasts . However, thorough preparation is required, as they are difficult to drive on and almost all lead through Aboriginal land, for which a permit is required.

Honors

Len Beadell was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1958 for building the Gunbarrel Highway, and in 1988 he received the Order of Australia Medal. The asteroid (3161) Beadell was named after him, because it was only through its streets that the discovery of some important meteorites in the Australian outback was possible.

Books by Len Beadell

• Too Long In The Bush
• Beadell, Len: Blast The Bush . Lansdowne Publishing, 1967, ISBN 1-86302-618-5 .
• Bush Bashers
• Still In The Bush
• Beating About The Bush
• End of an era
• Outback Highways (A collection of the above books)
• Around The World In 80 Delays: A Traveller's Tale

Books on Len Beadell

• A Lifetime In The Bush: The Biography of Len Beadell by Mark Shephard

Web links

• Beadell's website