From Burra to the Strzelecki Track – Gordon Wooton Releases ‘Outback Road Builders‘
Long before the bitumen crew made its way to the Strzelecki Track, blokes like Gordon Wooton were out there chasing the dust of the mail truck – maps in hand, pegging out a path to build a road.
Now 84, Gordon has captured those early days with the Burra Road Gang in his book, Outback Road Builders.
Born in Burra and raised on Mackerode, between Burra and Mount Bryan, Gordon left school at 16 and joined the Engineering and Water Supply Department. That same year, South Australia’s Premier promised Delhi Santos that if they drilled for oil and gas in SA, roads would be built to get them there. The Burra Road Gang got the job – and Gordon was greeted to the outback by blistering heat, makeshift camps and endless dust.
In his book, he talks of Tinga Tinana Homestead, Innamincka Hotel ruins, the Lyndhurst shop, Coopers Crossing, Merty Well and the Gidgealpa Oil and Gas fields, which later became part of Santos’ Moomba site.
One story that features in Outback Road Builders, made news headlines at the time – when 17-year-old Gordon walked 40 outback miles to get help for his injured mate, Hartley Beinke, after a petrol explosion at camp. It was a trek that summed up the kind of courage and mateship those early road builders were made of.
The book is available at various businesses including Crystal Brook Newsagency, Hawker Motors, The Store on Second (Orroroo), Hair on Ayr (Jamestown), One More Page (Kadina), Cordola Camping and Recreation (Morgan), and the Birdsville Roadhouse, or by contacting [email protected]
Keen to read more stories like Gordon’s? Click here to meet more South Aussie legends.
