Mount Davies Road

Unfortunately you won't get a permit. And I understand that even if you do, it's been neglected for so long that it is undrivable with so many washouts.

Pity.

Back in the late ‘90’sI drove up there for a few k’s and found the track overgrown at the south end to the extent that I could not go any further. I did not have a permit as I was only going to go up a short way but could not get through as it was too overgrown at that end. There was a tag along mob that were going up so far then heading across to the serpentine Lakes,but that was years ago.
Lindsay

Tezza4567,
I assume you mean Surveyor General's Corner rather than Camerons Corner?

I did the Mt. Davies road (from Anne's Corner to Surveyor- General's Corner) in Sept 2000 in company with three other vehicles and it was the most memorable of all the trips I have done in Central Australia.
It took us more than three years to get the necessary permit, and one of the conditions was that we had to meet with Traditional Owners at the southern boundary of the APY lands and travel with them; they turned out to be great value, and excellent company.
We also stayed overnight with them in Watarru and could not have been made more welcome. At that stage Watarru was a very new community built adjacent to a rock formation that was a (very) small scale version of Uluru, but I believe the community has since largely been abandoned.
Len Beadell is quoted as saying that the Mt. Davies road was one of the hardest he built, and the sand-hills at the southern end certainly were a challenge. The "road" itself was non-existent in many places, and very overgrown in others, so a lot of cross-country driving was involved. Doing it back then with less than two vehicles would have been foolhardy in the extreme, and I have no doubt that it has only gotten worse since we were there.
We also spent quite a bit of time "off road" looking for one of Len's survey pegs marking the centre line of the firing range and that took a terrific toll on tyres. In fact, we gave up counting after number 24!
Our contact for getting the permit has long since gone, but I have often reflected why it was so difficult to get one in the first place. However, in 2015 whilst browsing on the 'net, quite by chance I stumbled across a report that had been prepared in 2007 and which set out in careful detail the pro's and con's of granting permits to enter aboriginal lands. It was very balanced and although quite long is compelling reading for people who grapple with this problem. It is called APY Tourism Policy Development Report and was prepared by a Fiona Pemberton and Pat Katnich. If someone can enlighten me on how to attach a PDF version I would be happy to do so.

There is nothing in what I have said that would encourage your optimism about getting a permit but, nonetheless, I encourage you to try. It certainly is extraordinary country.
RLK.

There are two Anangu Lands Tourism reports. One is dated 2007 and is authored by Fiona Pemberton and Pat Katnich, as mentioned above, by Roger K.

The other is dated 2009, and is a "final" report, and this later report is authored by Colin Koch and John Tregenza.

You can find the links to download the reports directly, below.

Be aware that there is an Anangu Peoples website at www.anangu.com.au - but the site is insecure, and when you click the link in the search result, Google flashes up a warning not to proceed, because of the lack of security posed by the website.

2007 Anangu Tourism Report

2009 Anangu Tourism Report

Cheers, Ron.

In 2016 while on the Anne Beadell we met a farmer and his son who had just finished doing the Mount Davies Rd in both directions. His purpose was to travel every one of Len Beadells tracks and when out there they just drove. He said the Mt Davies Rd was a bit difficult and overgrown but obviously doable. I asked him about permits and he just smiled. He was in a red Nissan Patrol and came from south-east SA

Hi Tezza, Doing a bit of research on the Mt Davies rd as wanting to travel it in a couple of months, you mentioned you would post on here how you went with permits. How'd you go?
Cheers, Gary.