Using station tracks shown in EoTopo & Satellite imagery

You have raised a very valid point and unfortunately some of the tracks shown on the EO maps are private and are not for public use. This can cause a major issue with your insurance company if you come to grief on a non public/private road.

For this very reason, I contacts another major map producer here in Australia and asked this very question and their reply was very simply.

For legal reason, the major competitor only shows roads and tracks that can legally be driven on by the public, as they are well aware there are far more tracks out there that are private.

We take the view that if a track is shown on the map & doesn't have a locked gate or a sign saying 'Private Keep out' (or similar) then it is likely a public right of way. That doesnt mean that we won't ask for permission if that is a practical thing to do.

Sometimes the the track passes a homestead, & on occasions we have stopped to ask, or called them up on the UHF. This on occasions has seen us receive directions to a nice camp site we wouldn't otherwise have know about.

Only once did we get into 'trouble'. There were no signs & no locked gates, but we did pass through a few gates which were shut (leaving the as we found them of course). After something like 20 or 30kms we found that we had begun to go off the line on the map a little & stopped at a Y Junction. A car at some stockyards in the distance, a red Patrol I recall, driven by a rather grumpy old fella left the yards & came to where we were.

He asked what we thought we were doing there, clearly not happy about our presence.

I was trying to explain we were following 'this track on the map'. He interupted me saying " This track ain't been used for forty fu*kin' years" & said "I'll take you back to the main road". I countered this by assuring him we didn't wish to inconvenience him & could find our own way back with ease. "No, you'll follow me" he said in a manner which clearly indicated we werent being given a choice. . As we passed the homestead another car pulled out to be behind us. It was clear we were being escorted off the property. As we reached the final gate the chap in front pulled over to open the gate & subsequetly turned around to drive back in the direction of the homestead after shutting the gate once we & our rear escort had passed through it.

Reaching the road I pulled up & the car behind pulled up along side us. I got out & approached saying something like "Well that was all a bit unexpected". "Oh don't worry about it" the chap said. "Ee's a grumpy ol' bastard, one of two brothers who live on their own up there. I agist some cattle on their place. Ee'll love telling that story about a couple of crazy tourists drivin' into his place down at the pub for years to come" & winked. We shook hands & he drove off in one direction & us in the other.

If it isn't named then treat it as private. Exploreoz is useless for identifying private tracks, use Hema instead as they list them as private or MVO. DO NOT USE GOOGLE SATTELITE! A group of 4x4s decided to drive from Mt Freeling to Arkaroola on a private road and collided with a side by side and injured 2 occupants. The station is now trying to restrict access on Umberatana road because of this. The amount of people trying to drive from Arkaroola to Hawkers gate has left the station manager very angry.

Personally, I find getting the permission of the landowner is the way to go, in this case I wanted to visit a B&W site located on private property, so I rang the local Tourist Infomation centre. I gave the info they requested and within the week I received an email with the name and phone number of number of the property owner...so I spoke with them personally.
Now some property owners do not want people trekking across their land as they are a working station, in this case, I go to plan B or go different way or disregard the location all together and put it on the back burner..to be looked at later on.

In South Australia, we also have 23 Public Access Routes which are private pastoral tracks that the public can use without special permission (with conditions) to access points of interest.
They should be checked before use as they are sometimes closed for various reasons.
List of PARs.
Map of PARs
I am not aware of equivalents to this great arrangement in any other States.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Whilst EOTopo certainly shows a huge amount of minor outback and regional tracks, we also clearly indicate any that are known private tracks with both a text label and a distinct line style/colour. Our mapping also includes land-use shading for areas such as:
• IPA – Indigenous Protected Areas (usually no public access on any track within an IPA)
• Native Title areas
• Military restricted zones
• Mining restricted zones
• Management Vehicle Only tracks in Parks/Reserves

Many pastoral stations also have tracks passing through them that are gazetted public roads. These remain publicly accessible, but travellers must still respect landowner rules such as no shooting, no camping, and closing gates. These requirements are usually signposted on-site.

Below are a few screenshots to illustrate how this appears in EOTopo:



We produce enhanced topo maps, and they are widely used — not just by travellers, but by land owners, and emergency services crews who rely on this level of detail to locate old or overgrown tracks during critical operations.
Accurate mapping of this data is vital, and travellers are only one of many users who depend on our product.

We also do actively delete non existent roads each year when creating new editions of EOTopo.

Hope this is useful
Michelle

I understand where Shane is coming from. Shut the gate means shut the gate. Gate etiquette means leave it how you found it. Having had a couple of service businesses over the years you have to treat people as if they have absolutely no idea, because some of them don’t. Yes there is a a name for them. Shutting an open gate could stop stock getting water at the very least. Not trying to be smart it’s just how we have to live these days.