(1923
- 1995)
O.A.M, B.E.M., F.l.E.M.S(Aust)
Len Beadell has been described as "The Last Australian Explorer" because of his lifetime of work surveying, mapping and creating access to a vast portion of the Australian Outback.
In 1947, he was tasked by the Australian government to locate and survey the site for a rocket testing range in northern South Australia stretching across West Australia almost to the Indian Ocean. The town that was the base for the range was later named Woomera. This he tackled with enthusiasm, energy and unfailing good humour.
As a surveyor Len was responsible for the initial town survey and launch sites and in the years to follow he led a gang of roadmakers to create over 6,500 kilometres of access roads for scientific observers of various weapons tests.
The best known of these roads is The Gunbarrel Highway which runs from the Stuart Highway west to Carnegie Station, a distance of 1500 kilometres.
The atomic bomb test sites at Emu and Maralinga in South Australia were also located and laid out by Len Beadell during the cold war years of the 1950's.
The names of some these roads and intersections in this giant grid reflect Len's love of his family that he was absent from for up to nine months in a year. The Gary Highway, the Connie Sue Highway, Jackie Junction and the Anne Beadell Highway, from Coober Pedy SA to Laverton WA (1400 kms), are visited now by his widow, children and grandchildren.
During
these years he and his workmates were subject to the extremes of the Australian
bush coping with the heat, cold, dust storms, rain, floods and flies and all the
time his navigation, both solar and stellar, was crucial to their own safety and
the success of the rocket range. The accuracy of his surveying has been affirmed
with the recent introduction of Global Positioning Satellite systems.
Len wrote of his experiences in six books which are available for sale through the order form found on this site. In his later years he gave more than 900 talks to groups across Australia - one of which was recorded in Shepparton in 1991 and is available on cassette tape or CD through this order form, as is a fascinating video on Len's exploits (available as Part 1 or Part 2 or a boxed set).
As a raconteur Len had his audience's ribs aching with laughter with his droll, "bushie", understated delivery. He was at his best though, in the desert he loved. With a group of four wheel drive enthusiasts sitting around the warmth and glow of a mulga campfire, surrounded by the eerie ghostlike shapes of the desert oaks, he would recall with uncanny detail the highs and lows of his years in the great outback.