Gary Junction Road
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Gary Junction Road Northern Territory–Western Australia |
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| Looking east along Gary Junction Road towards Mt Liebig | |
| Type | Track |
| Length | 852 km (529 mi) |
| Built by | Len Beadell |
| ESE end | Tanami Road |
| WNW end | Gary Junction |
| Permits | 3 |
| Fuel supply | |
| Facilities | Bore water, Jupiter well |
The Gary Junction Road is an outback unsealed road in Australia built by Len Beadell in the 1960s as part of a network of roads for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera, South Australia. In its original form, the Gary Junction Road ran from Liebig bore in the Northern Territory to Callawa Station in Western Australia. On present day maps, it is depicted as running from the Tanami Road (Narwietooma turnoff) to Gary Junction, just east of the , a distance of 852 kilometres. The road was named after Beadell's only son Gary.
Map of the original Gary Junction Road 1350 km in length.
Beadell and his Gunbarrel Road Construction Party (GRCP) commenced work immediately after completing the Sandy Blight Junction Road in August 1960. Starting from Sandy Blight Junction, the first stage was built towards an existing bore track near Mount Liebig 180 km to the east (67 km west of Papunya). Liebig bore was reached on 16 September. The party then returned to Sandy Blight Junction to continue the western section, with the ultimate goal being Callawa Station near the north-west coast of Western Australia.
Construction west of the junction began on 5 October, and the border between the Northern Territory and Western Australia was reached on 12 October. Beadell took star sights and placed a signpost displaying the latitude and longitude to mark the border. The road progressed westward and reached the present site of Jupiter Well on 7 November. The location was about 330 km from Sandy Blight Junction. On 8 November the grader broke down with a major transmission failure. Further road making was interrupted, and a lengthy towing operation of 800 km back to Giles began, using the bulldozer to tow the grader, with the water trailer attached behind it. The average speed of the bulldozer train was 3 km per hour, with an estimate of about a month for the journey. Every two hours while the bulldozer was travelling, a halt for greasing the track rollers was required.
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