Len Beadell Print Page

The memorial commemorates Len Beadell who surveyed the site for the township of Woomera.

Len Beadell was a member of the Australian Army's Survey Corp. He first surveyed the site for the township of Woomera, it's rocket range and later the network of outback roads that the army crews used to pick-up the remains of rockets and other space junk.

At the time, the road network established by Len and his crew, was top secret. Len and his six-man team spent years carving roads out of the scrub. They were guided by Len's uncanny bush skills, his knowledge of the stars and the mathematical calculations that helped pinpoint their location.

Over 18 years the survey and road crew - dubbed the Gun Barrell Road Construction Party - created six and a half thousand kilometres of bush roads. Along some sections you'll still see pieces of space junk picked up by crews sent out from Woomera. But in the early 50's, Len was sent out on another equally secret mission. This time to survey the site for the first British Atomic Bomb tests. After repeated surveys he found the ideal spot three hundred and fifty miles northwest of Woomera which came to be called Emu.

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