Victoria Highway

Victoria Highway
map
Basic data
Operator:	NT Roads , Main Roads
Start of the street:	Stuart Highway Katherine ( NT ) ( 14 ° 28 ′  S , 132 ° 16 ′  E )
End of street:	Great Northern Highway South of Wyndham ( WA ) ( 15 ° 52 '  S , 128 ° 22'  O )
Overall length:	537 km
States :	Northern Territory Western Australia

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The Victoria Highway is a trunk road in the north-west of the Australian Northern Territory and in the north-east of Western Australia . It connects the Stuart Highway in Katherine with the Great Northern Highway south of Wyndham and west of Kununurra . The Victoria Highway is part of the Australian National Highway 1 and, together with the Great Northern Highway, the most important overland connection between Darwin and Perth . It got its name from the Victoria River , which it only reached in two short places along the way.

history

Originally there were only a number of smaller unpaved farm roads in this area. In the 1950s there was a first major construction project that created a continuous road connection.

The road was further expanded in the 1960s when the Ord dam was built . This also made the road passable by road trains .

It was not until the 1990s that the highway was expanded, straightened and paved again.

course

Northern Territory

Buntine Memorial, at the junction of the Buntine Highway to the south, approx. 80 km, west of the bridge over the Victoria River

Gregory's Tree: Approx. 3.5 km north of Victoria Highway, turn off approximately 20 km west of Timber Creek

The Victoria Highway branches off in Katherine to the southwest from the Stuart Highway (N1). It runs through wide savannahs made of grass, acacia and eucalyptus bushland, which are parched in the dry season and are characterized by some impressive mountain ranges and gorges. Rest areas, farms and junctions from roads are rare.

After 125 km, the Buntine Highway (R96) branches off to the south at Willeroo , which leads to Top Springs and then to Duncan Road (R80) in Western Australia. Approximately 35 km further, the Victoria Highway enters the eastern part of Gregory National Park . It crosses the eponymous Victoria River and runs through the settlement of the same name on the west bank. The Victoria River, which bends at right angles to the west coming from the south, is crossed on a low bridge. This river crossing (Victoria River Crossing) is often impassable for days during the rainy season . During this time, the bridge that spans the river can be several meters under water.

From the highway there is an access to the river bank (Victoria River Access) to a ford that Alexander Forrest crossed in 1879 on his expedition from the Kimberleys to the Top End. During the dry season, the Victoria River is a popular barramundi angler's paradise and is visited by excursion boats. Several hiking trails lead from the roadhouse to lookout points on spectacular sandstone canyons and steep cliffs on the Victoria River ( Escarpment Walk and Joes Creek Walk ).

161 km further west, the Buchanan Highway (R80) turns south , which also leads to the Victoria River and opens two entrances to the western part of Gregory National Park. 16 km west of the junction branches off again to the south, another difficult all-wheel drive track into the heart of the western Gregory National Park (so-called Bullita Stock Route ). Timber Creek is 12 km further to the northwest . The Victoria River approaches the road again from the north and accompanies it for about 20 km. Wherever he left it, the expedition leader Augustus Charles Gregory scratched a reference to his stay in a boab tree (called Gregory's Tree ) on July 2, 1856 .

The highway turns southwest and crosses the East Baines River and the West Baines River . On the southern edge of the Keep River National Park , he covers the last kilometers to the northwest to the border with Western Australia.

Western Australia

The highway runs past Lake Kununurra

3 km beyond the border, Lake Argyle Road branches off to the southwest from the highway to the Ord Dam. The Ord Dam dams the Ord River and several small rivers in the region to Lake Argyle , the largest man-made lake in Australia.

35 km to the northwest is the easternmost larger town of Western Australia, Kununurra , where the road crosses the Ord River. The Victoria Highway leads another 45 km to the southwest, along the sandstone formation of the Carr Boyd Ranges , before it meets and ends 56 km south of Wyndham on the Great Northern Highway, which runs in a north-south direction.

The highest point on the highway is at 225 m, the lowest at 8 m.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ maps.bonzle.com - Victoria Highway . Retrieved April 19, 2012.

source

• Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing. Archerfield QLD 2007. ISBN 978-1-74193-232-4 . Pp. 89 + 96

Web links

Commons : Victoria Highway  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Victoria Highway  Travel Guide