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.
How to Use this Trek Note
Click the "Map" tab to see the route we've provided. Icons on the map are the POIs you'll need for navigation purposes. Be sure to check the list of Nearby
Places on each POI page.
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Environment
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.
History
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 .
