Gunbarrel Highway

The Gunbarrel Highway is a remote 1,350-kilometre unsealed four-wheel-drive track in the Gibson and Great Victoria Deserts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Constructed between 1955 and 1958 by Len Beadell's Gunbarrel Road Construction Party for the Woomera rocket range, it links Wiluna in the west to Victory Downs near the Northern Territory border. Notable for its extreme isolation, corrugations, and historic survey markers, it is regarded as one of Australia's most challenging outback routes.

Visitors can expect an extremely remote, unsealed desert track with heavy corrugations, sand dunes, spinifex and mulga country. There are no towns or services between Wiluna and Carnegie Station and Warburton. The route passes historic Len Beadell survey markers, abandoned grader and memorials, with opportunities for dispersed bush camping, photography and four-wheel driving. Travel is self-sufficient and requires a well-prepared high-clearance 4WD convoy.

Constructed between 1955 and 1958 by surveyor and road builder Len Beadell and the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera. The road was surveyed and graded to support the Woomera rocket range and Giles Weather Station. Named 'Gunbarrel' because Beadell aimed to build it as straight as a gun barrel, it was the first east-west road across central Australia and remains a significant example of post-war outback road construction.

Traverses traditional lands of Western Desert Aboriginal peoples including Martu and Ngaanyatjarra. The highway passes through Aboriginal reserves and communities and is culturally significant for its association with Aboriginal land access and contemporary permit system. It is also significant in Australian four-wheel-drive and exploration heritage as Len Beadell's most famous road.