Stuart Highway North - Historic Engineering Marker #91 Burt Plain, Northern Territory, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 10-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7548

Stuart Highway North - Historic Engineering Marker #91

The concept and design of the Stuart Highway began in 1870 by the South Australian Government. Between 1911 and 1978 the Commonwealth and various state government departments utilised in house resources and consultants to continue development. The Northern Territory Government took responsibility for construction from 1978.

The highway began in 1870 as a supply track along the Overland Telegraph and over 130 years later, it is now the Stuart Highway as we know it today.

The Stuart Highway North connects Alice Springs with Darwin via numerous small towns and the two major centres of Tennant Creek and Katherine. The explorer John Mc Douall Stuart, on his third attempt, crossed the continent of Australia from Port Augusta to the north coast arriving 20 miles east of the mouth of the Adelaide River on 24 July 1862. Stuart's Reports spoke highly of the potential of the country that he had traversed and based on Stuart's advice South Australia had the land to its north excised and on 6 July 1863 the Northern Territory became the responsibility of South Australial4. In 1871 the Overland Telegraph line was constructed linking Port Augusta and the southern states with the recently established settlement of Palmerston. The undersea cable connecting Australia to the world through Java came ashore at Palmerston on Port Darwin. The Overland Telegraph followed the route taken by Stuart for a substantial proportion of its 1765-mile length.

The alignment of the telegraph was kept cleared of trees, maintenance and resupply of stores for the telegraphers at the Repeater Stations, meant that traffic along the route was ongoing and "The Overland" became established. Any Travellers, Drovers, Adventurers & Overlanders crossing the continent followed the Overland Telegraph Line further adding to the development of the road.

Contents of the plaque:

STUART HIGHWAY NORTH

The 1500 km highway connecting Alice Springs and Darwin began as the dirt track servicing the 1870s Overland Telegraph construction. Part of that dry-weather track served to link the raidheads until the Second World War. Civil and military road agencies then combined to construct an all-weather sealed highway vital for the defence of Australia. Major upgrades between 1970 and 1992 created a National Highway, a monument to the achievements of engineers, surveyors and workers in a remote region.

THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA AND DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTION 2007

When logging this virtual, please add a photo of yourself or your GPSr at the plaque.

For more information, please see the nomination PDF at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: Nomination and report