Gunbarrel Highway
The Gunbarrel Highway is an isolated desert track in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. It consists of about 1,350 km (840 mi) of washaways, heavy corrugations, stone, sand and flood plains. The Gunbarrel Highway connects Victory Downs in the Northern Territory to Carnegie Station in Western Australia. Some sources incorrectly show the highway extending west to Wiluna.
Gunbarrel Highway Northern Territory –Western Australia | |
|---|---|
| The highway is "as straight as a gun barrel" in some places | |
West end East end | |
| Coordinates |
|
| General information | |
| Type | Track |
| Length | 1,347 km (837 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| West end | Carnegie Road Carnegie Homestead, Western Australia |
| East end | Mulga Park Road Victory Downs Homestead, Northern Territory |
| Location(s) | |
| Region | Goldfields-Esperance (WA), Far North (SA) Central Australia (NT) |
| Restrictions | |
| Permits | 4 required |
| Fuel supply | Carnegie Homestead 25.795831°S 122.975319°E Warburton (26.131861°S 126.569026°E Warakurna Roadhouse 25.042906°S 128.303417°E |
The road was built as part of Australia's role in the weapons research establishment called Woomera which included Emu Field and Maralinga, both atomic bomb testing sites. The name comes from Len Beadell's Gunbarrel Road Construction Party, so named as his intention was to build roads as straight as a gunbarrel. The highway was protested by the Australian group Midnight Oil in their song of the same name as the highway.