Friday, February 11, 2011

Journey South / Stuart Highway

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The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south-a distance of 2,834 kilometres (1,761 mi).

The principal north-south route through the central interior of mainland Australia, the highway is often referred to simply as "The Track". The highway was only fully sealed in the mid-1980s as part of Australia's bicentenary roadworks programme. There are no police patrolling the majority of this remote highway and until the end of 2006 there was no speed limit outside towns and other built-up areas on the Northern Territory part. The bulk of the Northern Territory's population not living in Darwin lies along its track.

Like so much else in the Territory, the Stuart Highway was a legacy of World War Two. The first "road" to the south began at Southport and followed the Overland Telegraph Line to Rum Jungle, Stapleton and Adelaide River. That route was well to the west of the present Stuart Highway. Construction of the telegraph line had required the development of a track along the line's route, to enable wagons and other vehicles to travel with loads of posts, wire, and other materials. An area of approximately two chains width (about 40 metres) was cleared on either side of the line and this became "the track" - the only transport route south.

When war loomed it became apparent that the railway could not meet all defense requirements. Planners saw a need for an all weather road to service dispersed military installations, particularly airfields, in the immediate Darwin hinterland. So, from May 1941, the Darwin Adelaide River section (115km) was upgraded to an all weather gravel road standard. The work was done by the New South Wales Department of Main Roads - contrary to common belief that "the Yanks built the Stuart Highway".
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Apostle Bird Struthidea cinerea
Katherine
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Barrow Creek In Flood
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Bonamia media
Tennant Creek
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Bonamia pannosa
Tennant Creek
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Cassia Senna glutinosa subsp leurssenii
Tennant Creek
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Dampiera candicans
Devils Marbles
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Flooded Stuart Highway Between Barrow Creek and Wycliffe Well 2010
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Devils Marbles Tennant Creek
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Eucalyptus Papuana
Tennant Creek Tableland
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Poison Morning Glory Ipomoea muelleri
Tennant Creek
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Singing Honeyeater Lichenostomus virescens
Tennant Creek
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Sturt's Hibiscus Hibiscus sturtii
Tennant Creek
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Varied Lorikeet Psitteuteles versicolor
Katherine
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Wild Tomato Solanum chippendalei
Tennant Creek
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