TRACK CARE WA NEWS
STOCKTAKE
August 2022 BY ROD DURSTON
The CSR is one of Australia’s most iconic drives and gives the traveller a real sense of achievement when completed. It hasn’t been used by the public for two years due to COVID, so what state is it in? Well, Track Care WA was about to find out!
T
o my knowledge, nobody has ever done a stocktake of the Stock Route. What’s there, where it is and what condition is it in? So, a plan was devised to find out. In consultation with our friends at Kuju Wangka and Jamukurnu-Yapalikunu (JYAC, formally Western Deserts Land Aboriginal Corp.) we formulated a plan to GPS locate, photograph and document all the relevant pieces of infrastructure along the CSR. A huge project but undertaken enthusiastically by the volunteers at Track Care WA. A group of four drivers was assembled and the first stop, Wiluna, was to be hosted by the Shire CEO and some of their councillors.
136
| Western 4W Driver #124
We were entertained with stories by two elders, Lena Long, a councillor who was born at Well 7, and Rita Cutter. Rita recounted when she was about seven years old, the day she saw her first white fella. He came out of the bush on a big iron machine. He had funny skin colour; white, red, brown and black, and spoke a weird language. Turns out it was Len Beadell’s grader driver Scotty Boord! She ran away. After we had copious supplies of sandwiches it was time to get on with our job on the CSR and we hit Well 1 in the early afternoon. Here we discussed roles for
