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2007 EXPEDITION by Beadell Tours - Mick Hutton & Connie Sue Beadell
Click here for our quick summary of this expedition - "D.W. Carnegie - 1897" summary
What would make the average retired couple load up their 4WD and head off for a month or more into the far western deserts in an attempt to find their way through unknown country with no roads, people, modern amenities and more importantly little chance of seeing any water and zero chance of locating a fuel supply? It is a good question and to date there does not seem to be an answer to explain it. What we do know is that a very small percentage of 4WDrivers have a stronger than normal sense of adventure; a combination of curiosity, common sense and a desire to travel without all the trappings of modern life.
Around the fire at night, many miles from any human habitation the subject of why folks want to participate in trips that go beyond the limits of normal remote area travel is always discussed. The topic is handed from one person to the next almost like a hot potato as articulate people in most cases struggle to describe what it means to them to be able to travel where only a mere handful have been before. To complicate emotions, the country surrounding them is so harsh and removed from civilisation that everyone knows that to be stranded would most likely be fatal. But almost everywhere you look are subtle signs that humans have lived and survived in the same areas for nobody knows how long. It is this contrast that raises the most questions, many of which can't be asked or answered as they are more thoughts and feelings, something almost all find hard to put into words, particularly in front of a group.
That very discussion was being held one evening around a small fire north-west of Lake MacDonald in Western Australia in June of 2007. Our tiny band was attempting to follow the 1897 route of explorer David Carnegie. Earlier that day we had visited an unnamed range of low red stone ridges that had obviously supported Aboriginal life in the not so distant past. That evening the underlying theme was appreciation for both the courage of our explorers as well as a fast growing respect for the native people that called that very area home.
It is these times when the firelight reveals only a few facial features of everyone surrounding it that people cease to be what they have become. They are no longer retired office workers, tradesmen or professionals. They are just people, coming to terms with an environment that these days almost nobody has the will to experience. It is memories of those times and many others that make difficult trips worth the effort and expense for all involved.
David Wynford Carnegie was a young Scotsman with a strong desire to explore the unknown country north-west of the goldfields where he had spent the previous few years making his fortune. Carnegie's expeditions were self-funded, both the 1896 trip from the goldfields to Halls Creek and the return expedition which left Halls Creek in March 1897 and reached goldfields near present day Wiluna later that same year. A remarkable feat for a young man in his mid-twenties who before coming to the western Australian colony had never roughed it much at all, particularly in the conditions that are found in our western deserts. His journals are extremely readable, Carnegie had an intelligent yet down to earth way of writing that Australians find easy to relate to. Perhaps his exposure to the diggers of the goldfields made him far more Australian than he ever realised. After leaving Australia he gained a Government posting in an English colony in Africa. At the age of 29 he was killed by a poisoned arrow in an ambush trying to apprehend a known criminal.
The Carnegie 1897 expedition was another of our series of explorer based cross-country trips designed in some small way to celebrate the men who at great risk to themselves cast their eyes over country that even now has not been seen in great detail. Since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, most of Australia had been looked over by explorers, prospectors and pastoralists. However there were still large tracts of the unknown left as just blanks on the maps of the day. The 1890s saw huge effort expended to fill in those blanks. Elder's Scientific Expedition, Calvert's & Carnegie's expeditions are the best examples. All had journals published and are still available today for people to read and enjoy, a valuable legacy for both us and the generations yet to come.
Making it physically possible to do such trips is another matter entirely. Modern vehicles no matter how good they are simply can't travel where a camel or horse can tread. Hence the many weeks spent making sure the route is viable for a vehicle to traverse, while all the time staying as close to the path of the explorer as possible. That brings us to the main problem, how do you know where the original exploring party actually went? The simple answer to that is you don't. Unless there are specific landmarks that they visited it is almost impossible to pinpoint exactly where they travelled and camped.
With no chance of a resupply of fuel and water, every vehicle must be able to carry enough to get through. This is why the bigger and more traditional 4WDs are so much better. They are normally stronger and have more room, carrying the weight in most cases without damage. The most critical part of preparation is tyres, rims and radiators. It is this part of the process that causes the most work before the trip as modern 4WDers have never had to learn how to travel cross-country for long periods of time and it can take many discussions before they realise that what they want to be involved in has a very different set of rules. The lessons learnt by blokes such as Len Beadell have been forgotten as folks now whiz around on pretty fair roads all of the time.
A week after leaving Alice Springs we were passing to the west of Lake MacDonald and in view of the Turner Hills. 
Our party of six vehicles had been weaving through thick belts of Desert Oak and snaking around large sandhills for a few days, with everyone in good spirits. There had been no sign of wheeltracks, no campsites, no trace of recent movement of people at all, just camels and birds. The terrain had so far been forgiving with the group only having one flat tyre in that time. The country was as Carnegie described it 110 years ago, the only difference being the absence of the Aboriginals in their small hunting parties scattered over the landscape. Breaking free of the lower country that surrounds Lake MacDonald we reached the Turner Hills, stopping to climb the scrub covered low ridge for a view of the country both ahead and behind. Carnegie didn't name any of the features we could see, the names came from an earlier explorer. While on a stock route survey in 1889, William Harry Tietkens searched for water throughout that area and having little luck he returned back east towards the Telegraph Line. Every landmark visible from the Turner Hills was named during that 1889 foray. Far to the north-east the sharp peak of Mt Leisler in the Kintore Range was clearly visible marking the nearby Kintore Community, where the local Aborigines now reside. To the south not much could be seen apart from a few low hills. Picking our way through the Turner Hills barrier we pushed around a few sandridges and kept on to the south, the same as Carnegie 110 years before.
The weather had been cool and quite windy, overcast conditions pushed in from the west and the threat of rain could be felt in the air. A couple of camps we battened down the hatches but only a few light sprinkles fell on our tarps and swags. We had been passing through more patches of Mulga country while meandering south. Rain was not a welcome option at that time. Being bogged in the desert is such a contradiction, but it does happen with winter rainfall events, we have been caught before.
Poking through a break in the J.D. White Range we kept to the west of the stony breakaway. 
Carnegie had travelled on the eastern side over enormous sandhills for many miles. This was not an option for us in 4WDs. The western side was a clear run along flat country, so we had to do that. An example of the compromise vehicles need to make to do these trips. Apart from Carnegie in 1897, the only other recognised explorer to travel into the country we were now in was Frank Hugh Hann in 1904. Again almost every feature within our view was named by the old bushman as he pottered about looking for minerals for the Mines Department. Carnegie 7 years before had named none of them.
Days later we were clear of the majority of strung out ridges and low scrubby hills, we turned to the west as Carnegie had done, a deliberate decision to avoid the well known Rawlinson Ranges and it's many water sources. One of the last landmarks was the Compton Hills, a low bump in the landscape. Hiking to the top we could barely see in the distance to the north Lake Anec. Another explorer had named that, Donald MacKay in 1930 during the first aerial survey of the central desert region, yet another unknown chapter of Australian exploration.
Sandhills loomed with the familiar weeping form of the Desert Oak, a welcome break from hard Mulga scrub and stone country. The next week was spent twisting and turning through an enormous dune field as we continued west then south-west toward the far distant Lake Breaden on the Gunbarrel Highway. Heavy belts of sandhills are always a worry. We never know just how high they will be or whether they can be navigated through at all. It is in these areas that we plan normally plan more than one route, just in case.
People were starting to see a change in their vehicle temperature gauges by now. The accumulated spinifex dust and tiny vegetable matter off the plants had begun to lower radiator efficiency. Cross-country travel has a few compulsory problems. Clogging radiators are one of them. The fine dust and sticky residues come off the plants directly as you drive over them. They are so small that your normal flyscreen or shadecloth has no chance of stopping the culprits. You can of course put multiple layers of flyscreen over your grill, but you can't restrict airflow greatly otherwise you will overheat the radiator and cause the problem you were trying to avoid. All that can be done is to stop the larger seeds from getting into the radiator and then have the ability to blow the dust out of your radiator when it is required. For the vehicle in the lead, that can be daily if the conditions are bad enough. The other problem is simply punctured tyres. This is unavoidable and a staked tyre quickly becomes a normal event and little fuss is attached to it. Change the tyre. Repair it in the afternoon then carry on the next day.
Clearing the sandhills we quickened our normal slow pace over undulating clear country, in the process passing through the area where explorers Ernest Giles and Alfred Gibson struggled west in 1874 only to retreat due to lack of water. Gibson perished on that flying trip and the entire area was from then on was known as Gibson's Desert. Carnegie had no such trouble, unlike Giles he had camels and in most cases made easy work of dry country, passing through with a lot less worry than an explorer dependent on thirsty horses.
Very soon we came onto a maintained road which led us to the very remote Patjarr Community. A quick visit and a yarn had us refuelled and full of water again, the shop also had some custom as everyone stocked up on a few items for the last stage of our expedition. Patjarr would not normally be labelled civilisation, but for us it was after a fortnight with nothing else but ourselves to remind us that a world outside existed.
Pushing through Mulga scrub for a couple of days we came onto the Gunbarrel Highway near Lake Breaden, named by Carnegie after Joe Breaden, one of his men. Adjusting our tyre pressure we headed west along the Gunbarrel making for Camp Beadell for a well deserved day off. In keeping with our remote theme we saw no other travellers along the popular route for the next couple of days. That was a surprise, but all hands felt the better for it somehow, we hadn't had our solitude broken.
The first shower after more than a fortnight in harsh conditions always feels good, that is a fact nobody would deny. Dust and sweat washes away leaving a feeling of cleanliness but also a renewal of spirit, a positive attitude for the rest of the trip. Vehicles had a bit of a clean as well with radiators, air cleaners and floor mats billowing dust from the compressed air aimed at them. As a matter of interest I pulled enough wooden stakes from our four tyres to half fill a condensed milk tin.
Getting back onto Carnegie's track we arrived at Mt Worsnop & Mt Allott soon after. Again this is an area well used by many explorers as it is where John & Alexander Forrest found good water at Alexander Spring in 1874. Many expeditions used Forrest's route after that with varying degrees of success, Alexander Spring being usually dry. Carnegie swept through here as well both on the northward trip in 1896 as well as the return journey the next year.
Carnegie from there swung almost due west, so we did the same once again leaving the road behind and making our own way through Mulga and scrubby ridges for another few days. The country alternated continuously reminding us of every desert environment as we travelled. Natural features named by Carnegie broke the skyline every so often and using his landmarks we made our way closer to the end of our journey.
Our last camp on Carnegie's route was within the eastern edge of cattle country, we were nearing civilisation once more. Around the fire that night everyone had the opportunity to explain what the trip had meant to them. The voices waxed and waned as again people put thought into words for all to hear. Business men, a bank manager, a plumber, an Air Force officer, teachers, nurses, folk from most walks of life had just experienced country unique in the world, untouched pristine desert that more than likely will remain largely unchanged for centuries to come. It is a lucky country that can still retain vast areas unspoilt by progress. What is more fortunate is that very few have the urge to see these places therefore keeping them safe.
For me personally to complete a long and difficult expedition always seems to be similar to an anti-climax. A quiet sense of satisfaction would be a better description, or even a combination of humility and respect brought about by the desert allowing us to pass through virtually unscathed. It is hard to put into words, much the same as people attempting to explain the reason for wanting to participate in such expeditions. For most of us it is more likely some instinctual link to our far distant past when our forebears survived with mother-nature, something most of us do not have to do these days.
On that same note Aboriginals lived throughout the western deserts for countless generations. They survived only because the people that came before them learnt to live in the vast vegetated deserts of what we now call central Australia. Many lives would have been lost gaining that knowledge to survive. What could be eaten and when, where to find the various birds and animals, the location of reliable water sources and what areas had to be avoided when rains did not come. Human history the world over has always been the same, adapt or die.
Ancient peoples including our own lived in the environment. The civilised tribes of today build their own. Modern folk are cut off from the world that shaped them in time gone by. Is this why logic and common sense now seem to be in such short supply, because people don't need to think to survive? Now that's food for thought.
Our thanks go to the following for assistance with our Carnegie Expedition
- Ngaanyatjarra Council
- Patjarr Community
- MRF Tyres
- Reids Radio Data HF Communications
- Rema Tip-Top
Mick Hutton & Connie Sue Beadell
Copyright : 2007
BEADELL TOURS
37 Montebello Drive
SALISBURY
South Australia, 5108
Phone : (08) 8250 2718
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Email : Beadell Tours
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