Destinations > The Gawler Ranges

Issue: March 2009

Words and photos by Vic Widman

G'Day, Vic Widman here, this month I am taking you to a place that despite my 30+ years of 4WDing around Australia I only visited for the first time in the last 12 months.

Having been there, I am now wondering why it took me so long to see such a magnificent area. From the rugged mountain range to the brilliant white salt lakes, this place has everything the keen four wheel drive tourer would want. Idyllic and peaceful campsites deep in seldom visited gorges to station accommodation that offers you everything in the way of facilities and comfort, the Gawler Ranges in South Australia has it all.
The Gawler Ranges are located in South Australia about 100 kilometres west of Port Augusta and just to the north of the Eyre Highway. I am sure that anyone who has either driven up the Stuart Hwy from Port Augusta or west across the Eyre Highway towards Ceduna would agree that the surrounding country is less than inspiring. It is flat and rather featureless, covered in sparse vegetation which barely rises above knee height. The area is certainly not inviting for a pleasant campsite or some wonderful scenery. But look a little further than the land around that strip of bitumen and you will be surprised, I know I was.

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Port Augusts is a great spot and a worthy start point for this journey. We have to trace its European history all the way back to a fellow we first heard off in Primary school, Matthew Flinders. He sailed up Spencers Gulf in 1802 when he was out mapping the coastline of the new land Australia. He reached close to where Port Augusta township now sits. Today Port Augusta is a major transport hub, in fact, it is the crossroads between Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin and Perth. If you are a truckie doing this run, you will pass through PA. If you are a tourist heading across the Nullarbor or up to the Red Centre and beyond, you will pass through PA. The city has all the services our modern traveller would wish for and is an ideal spot to restock after coming through the quarantine areas to the east. I also found one of the best tourist information centres and exhibitions I have ever visited. The Wadlata Outback Centre in the centre of town is a place that every four wheeler should visit, you need at least two hours to take in the full exhibit. If you enjoy Australian history you will love the Wadlata Centre.
After stocking up the Engel head west young man. The Eyre Hwy is busy with grey nomads and big rigs, but it is a good sealed road with plenty of width. The seventy odd kilometres to Iron Knob will pass quickly. Iron Knob, once a huge mining town, is now dying, mining actually ceased here in 1998. Although there is mining still taking place at Iron Monarch about 50 kilometres to the south. One hundred years of mining has left its mark with the prominent Iron Knob Hill now sitting 150 metres lower than it did in the 1890's.

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