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The Mount Davies Road is a remote unsealed outback track which runs from Mount Davies (Pipalyatjara) in the far north-west corner of South Australia to Anne's Corner on the Anne Beadell Highway 397 kilometres to the south-east. It was built during 1956 and 1957 by the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party (GRCP) surveyed and led by Len Beadell for the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera, South Australia. ==Road survey== As a result of British atomic tests at Emu Field in 1953, a weather station was needed to the far north-west of the test sites, to determine when suitable weather conditions existed for future tests. Len Beadell was given the task of selecting a team and constructing access roads from the test locality to the future weather station, named Giles after the explorer Ernest Giles who had explored that part of the remote inland. The road which began at Victory Downs in the Northern Territory was to become known as the Gunbarrel Highway. The GRCP reached Mt. Davies in the Tomkinson Ranges at the north-west corner of South Australia on 4 December 1955.〔 On 26 June 1956, after the Gunbarrel Highway had reached Giles, and the airstrip was laid out, Beadell returned to Mt. Davies to begin a solo reconnaissance towards the south-east to survey a route for another road to link up with Emu Field. There had been recent rains which made the going tough, and early in the journey he suspected that a front axle of his four-wheel drive vehicle was broken due to slow progress in moist sand. He continued on as he had seen a cluster of rocky mountains in the distance (Mt. Lindsay), which would be useful as a survey trig point. The mountains reminded him of Ayers Rock by the smooth rounded shape of the formation. After reaching and scaling the highest point, he noticed water in a creek below, which he later explored from his Land Rover. The vehicle sank into soft sand, and it took him until the next day to extricate himself as the rear wheels only were driving. He decided that the new road would pass by this feature due to the good supply of water. He pressed on through thick scrub, and was more than half way to the destination when he noticed that fuel usage was greater than normal because of the moist ground. He began to doubt if there was sufficient left to make Emu Field. The vehicle was equipped with high frequency radio, so he was still able to contact his base, but suddenly the rear axle broke and further progress ceased with 110 kilometres to go. Beadell used his theodolite at night for astronomical observations, and calculated his exact location the next morning which he was able to pass to base via radio. It was a week before a rescue team arrived, however the wrong parts had been brought, so the vehicle was left where it was. It was repaired at a later date, and the survey was able to be completed.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mount Davies Road」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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