Birdsville Track Information

Birdsville Track Information

The 517-kilometre Birdsville Track is the stuff of legend, immortalised by tough outback postie Tom Kruse who delivered letters and supplies to remote stations in the 1950s. Today you'll find Kruse's battered old mail truck at Museum Park in Marree, and it's worth a look before you head out to follow in his tracks.

About 30km northeast of Marree, you'll come across the former camel depot and date palm plantation of Lake Harry homestead (2000 date palms were planted here and many can now be seen in Renmark and Mildura on the Murray River). Near here you'll also see Australia's famed Dog Fence – at 5300km it’s the longest fence in the world and used to keep dingoes away from sheep in the south.

Further along the track is Etadunna homestead – the entry point for the drive to Lake Killalpaninna and the ruins of the Bethesda Mission, where German missionaries wrote one of the first Aboriginal translations of the New Testament in the 1800s.

Next you'll find the 5km expanse of flood plain at the Cooper Creek crossing (more often than not it's wide and dry, but when the Cooper is in flood, there's a 48 kilometre detour to a motorised ferry).

And then it's on to the yellow sand ridges of the Natterannie Sandhills (where the Tirari and Strzelecki deserts meet); and Mulka Homestead, which has Australia's lowest annual rainfall – as little as 18 millimetres. Here you'll also see the ruins of the original homestead and store, which were established by former Mungerannie constable George Aiston in 1924. While his wife Mabel ran "the loneliest store on earth", Aiston collected Aboriginal artefacts and eventually catalogued a major anthropological collection for the Australian Institute of Anatomy in Canberra.

Mungeranie

The tiny town of Mungeranie consists of a great little Outback pub and an artesian bore where you can look out for up to 140 bird species. Lying at the junction of four deserts (Sturt’s Stony, Tirari, Simpson and Strzelecki) the hotel provides fuel, refreshments and accommodation, including campsites beside a permanent waterhole.

Just north of the little outpost, you'll come across the photogenic hills of Mungeranie Gap. Then it’s on to the very hot Mitta Mitta Bore, where a store and eating house once supplied drovers bringing cattle down to the railhead at Marree.

Next are Mt Gason (at 35m it’s hardly a mountain, but was named in honour of a local police officer) and Mt Gason Bore. And then you'll see the Rig Road turnoff, which heads west through the Simpson Desert to Mount Dare (4WD and extreme care needed).

Birdsville

Then you'll continue north to the town of Birdsville, which is famous for two things: its races and its pub. The September Birdsville Races attract 8000 people, with all gate earnings donated to the Birdsville Hospital and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The Birdsville Hotel was built in 1884 and remains the Outback’s most famous pub, attracting people from all over the world. Birdsville lies within the 97,000sqkm Diamantina Shire and originated as a surveyors’ depot in the 1880s. There’s a great range of facilities including a caravan park, general store, garage and small hospital, and don't miss the amazing displays of the Birdsville Working Museum.

Outback Travel

Driving in the outback is awesome: the huge blue skies, bright red soils and vivid wild flowers will make your heart sing. But you've got to be prepared, because the distances are long and the conditions extreme. Always ensure your vehicle is in top condition, carry recent maps, tell others where you're going and when you expect to arrive at your destination and plan distances carefully. And if you get stranded, stay with your vehicle. Before you head "out back", visit the Royal Automobile Association (RAA) on Hindmarsh Square in Adelaide for a booklet containing detailed safety information and maps.