This turnoff is marked by a steel pole in a drum with inscriptions. The
actual location of the 250 Mile marker is further to the NW. The track is mostly
well navigable for the first 5km or so but becomes quite overgrown/
Centre Line of Fire Historical Notes:
The Centre Line of fire for Rockets launched from
Woomera extended north west from Range E, across the Great Victoria, Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts, to a point on the 80 Mile Beach, between
Port Hedland and
Broome on the Western Australian Coast. In 1951 Len Beadell was given the task of undertaking ground surveys to locate centreline posts at set distances from
Woomera. He subsequently reached the 250, 300, 400, 500 and 550 Mie points and marked their locations with a thick mulga post. A brass plate, displaying the latitude, longitude and date was nailed to each post. Sheets of canvas were laid out around the observation posts to ensure their location was visible from the air.
The location of the 600, 650, 700 and 800 Mile posts were calculated by computer, but not required to be reached by ground reconnaissance.
See
EOTopo map (and separate Place Listing for the location of the 250 Mile Marker). Len reached and marked it on 17th June 1951