The road that connects the desert metropolis of Yulara with the Western Australian mining outpost of Laverton grew out of a set of wheel tracks across the Great Victoria Desert.
Story & photos by John Denman
Someone once said, “the longest journey starts with but a single step”. Those words could well have great meaning on a trip across the Great Central Road. It’s 1048 kilometres from Yulara in the Northern Territory, to Laverton in the northern goldfields district of Western Australia. For nearly all that distance, the surface is a variety of gravels with one dominating colour: red.
The vast majority of the track travels through Aboriginal land, which is why a ‘permit to traverse Aboriginal land’ is necessary. There is no pastoral activity along this road, just four main roadhouses/communities servicing those who live in the region and those travelling through it.
This story excerpt is from Issue #46
Outback Magazine: Apr/May 2006
