GREAT AUSTRALIAN DESERT.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 February 1921, Page 4

GREAT AUSTRALIAN DESERT.

FLAN TO CROSS IN .MOTOR CARS. SYDNEY. Feb. 8. It is proposed that the Public Works Committee of the Federated Parliament shall cross the great desert of the interior, from north to south, and return again by a slightly different route, in 80 days.

The expedition is to settle certain points of difference in connodon with tilt' building of the north-south railway. That gigantic undertaking, the linking of the Eastern States with West Australia, by means of the East-West railway, is complete, and now the Federal Government, is giving attention to the complementary undertaking. W hen South Australia agreed to come into the Federation, the Federal Government agreed to build a north-south railway, which would link South Australia with the Northern Territory. Ihe Commonwealth is not trying to shirk that obligation—butithere is a marked divergence of views in regard to route. The South Australians want the railway to drive straight north across the interior from Oodnadatta until it joins up with tlie Northern Territory line. Other people suggest that the line, after leaving tin* main South Australian system, should bend eastwards, so as to tap the north-west of New South Wales and the western part of Queensland. Then it might run north-west across the Barclay Tableland to join tip with the Northern Territory line, this, they say, would fulfil both the letter and the spirit of the Federal agreement, and it would also make the line of service over its whole length. There are great areas of tortile, wellwatered territory at the back of Queensland, barely scratched by the present narrow lines stretching in from the coastal region, and capable of supporting a large population. The Barclay Tableland and the other country south of the Gulf of Carpentaria comprises some of the best of the undeveloped land in Australia. It lies useless now, because of the difficulty of communication. It cannot be reached by water, because the Gulf is navigable only bv very small craft, and it takes a camel train weeks to get there from civilisation.

The central desert between South Australia and the Northern Territory, on the other hand, is comparatively useless. It is the home of the central sea, which formerly oecupeid the middle'of Australia, and the remaining salt is there in abundance. It is not exactly a Sahara—for a sparse herbage appears over it alter the iniioquent rains—but it is not capable of development. There is a limited area within the wider desert known as the Macdonnell Ranges, said to be capable of development, and these arc put forward sternly by the South Ausrtalians in urging the straight north-south route. The Public Works Committee proposes to go over these rival routes m motor-cars, starting in .Tune. Camel trains are already leaving the outback stations to establish petrol depots ovei the unoccupied regions that have to be visited. a-—. t ■in mu