The Connie Sue Highway is one of Australia's outback tracks constructed by Len Beadell and the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party in the early 1960's. The road was named after Len and Anne's daughter Connie Sue.

Today the Connie Sue is only travelled by a few keen 4WD enthusiasts, but for adventurous types, it provides an almost straight line shortcut to Warburton providing quick access to the myriad of wonderful desert tracks in the area.

The track runs mostly north-south through the heart of extremely remote desert country and intersects the Anne Beadell Highway and also the Great Central Road. The Aboriginal Land reserve known as Yapupara is crossed near the Hann Breakaways just before reaching the junction of the Great Central Road and for this section you must have a permit to continue.

Before entering the reserve you are required to obtain a travel permit to travel through the Ngaanyatjarra Lands (Aboriginal Reserve) which includes Warburton. Permits may be obtained from Ngaanyatjarra Council (Aboriginal Corporation) on (08) 8950 1711 or the Department of Indigenous Affairs.

Department of Indigenous Affairs, Perth Office:
Phone: (08) 9235 8000
Fax: (08) 9235 8088

Postal Address: P.O. Box 7770,
Cloister's Square, Perth, WA 6850
Street Address: Level 1, 197 St Georges Terrace, Perth, Western Australia
Email: info2@dia.wa.gov.au

For more information regarding permits please click: Department of Indigenous Affairs (DIA).

There are no supplies or water along the length of this trip. So all fuel, water and food must be carried. At the time of preparing these notes the track could be travelled in 4 days comfortably but this can easily change so allow 5 to 6 days with fuel, supplies and water to match. Permits must be obtained to enter Aboriginal Land. Contact the Aboriginal Lands Trust in WA for details - take the link to our Permits page for contact information, they even have an online application.

Remote Desert Country

Temperatures can rise to 50°C in summer and it has been known to rise to 60°C. Travel during summer is not recommended. This is remote desert country, so be fully self-sufficient. Keep in mind that this is not a well travelled route and there are absolutely no facilities for travellers, not even stations or aboriginal communities.

Your vehicle will need to be extensively prepared for remote area travel, with all fuel, water, food and vehicle repair equipment and spare parts. All travellers should read the 4WDriving Topic for related articles and checklists for vehicle setup and driver awareness.

We advise that you refer to the latest information and advice about outback communications in the Communications Topic. For any dune driving you should fly a dune flag from the front of your vehicle to avoid head on collisions on dune tops. Additionally, the lead vehicle in any direction should periodically make calls on Channel 10 from the top of large dunes on the UHF radio to advise oncoming traffic of your position.

Fuel Information

Please note that unleaded fuels have long been unavailable in the region in an attempt to combat petrol sniffing issues in nearby Aboriginal communities. Recently, a new fuel from BP called Opal Unleaded, has been introduced to better serve travellers interests, whilst combating petrol sniffing problems. BP Opal Unleaded is available at Warburton, (and also Warakurna Roadhouse and Docker River along the Great Central Road).

After heading north from Cocklebiddy, great care must be taken as there are quite a few limestone ridges that have to be crossed. These ridges have the potential to damage tyre side walls. After Rawlinna, the first 60km is through station country (Premier Downs) and is quite rough due to the track being cutup in the rainy times by the cattle and also there are numerous limestone ridges to be crossed. The track improves after this and becomes more sandy.

The environment is typical arid desert landscapes with low scrub and spinifex. Track ranges from lime stone ridges and clay to a sandy track and some small sand dunes. Only one significant sand dune must be crossed. Some ironstone ridges around Harkness and McKenzie gorges also must be crossed.

The Beadell name is well connected with the exploration of Australia's remotest areas and the creation of outback tracks. Len Beadell was a famous Australian surveyor, explorer and author instrumental in the surveying and building of 6,000kms of desert roads through the Great Victoria, Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts of Australia.

The Connie Sue Highway was built in two stages with the northern section being constructed by Len Beadell and the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party in August - September 1962 and the southern section built in Sept - October of the same year.

The road was named after Len and Anne's daughter Connie Sue who actually spent 5mths of her infant life living "on the road" in the harsh Australian bush as a baby during this time. The names that Len gave to some of his roads and intersections reflect the love of his family that he was absent from for up to nine months in a year.

Almost all of Len's roads are still used today by modern adventurers driving 4WD vehicles, although the Connie Sue Highway has a lower usage than the more popular , or even the .