When World War II commenced, the only form of heavy-duty transport to Darwin was via sea. Although an overland route running north-south existed, closely following the Overland Telegraph Line, this route was in many parts a rough ‘bush’ track, that was only serviceable in dry weather. It was unsuitable for the size and volume of military traffic that would be required to defend Australia from Japanese attacks or invasion from the north (Smith, 2000: 66).
In 1940, the Commonwealth Government called on assistance from the State Governments of South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales to provide personnel, equipment and financial assistance to undertake the construction of a road north from Tennant Creek to Birdum. The aim of the project was to construct a sturdy road that would link the railheads between Adelaide (Alice Springs) and Darwin (Birdum). The timeframe for this task was remarkably short –some 120 days were programmed, with construction of the road to be completed by the beginning of the wet season in December 1940. The proposed road was to be a ‘lightly metalled road with the intention of upgrading it once the wet season had passed…” (Tanner, 1995:1).
This road was to become the Stuart Highway and was completed in a remarkable 90 days! However, the volume of traffic on the road heading from the railhead in Alice Springs to positions north meant that road was not only a dusty horror – in the wet season it quickly became an impassable quagmire.
The outcome of this was that between 1940 and 1942, the road was bituminized, as a single lane macadam road. It remained this way until the 1980s, when the smooth, swift dual lane highway, once famous for its ‘no speed limits’, was constructed.
The cache is a regular sized tin with plenty of room for swaps. It contains a pen, but as these are notoriously unreliable, it's a good idea to always bring your own pen just in case.