The Old Eyre Highway - A Trip Through The Past

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The Old Eyre Highway was notorious. Mile after endless mile of choking dust, corrugations, huge bulldust holes & endless limestone rocks.
We took a drive along the Old Eyre and discovered ghosts of the past lining this old road.

[@billjackson4703]

Dad and i drove along here from Perth to Melbourne in the winter of 1973 in dads EJ Holden station wagon, to visit my big sister and her new husband, I was 13. [Mum flew over] We took a kit of spares including a spare tube for our crossply tyres. We never even used ANY of the spares/tube on the trip there or back home !! We had been warned beforehand not to stop for any Aboriginals flogging stuff by the roadside, for fear they will steal your car etc. We did see a few trying to sell wares. Dad insisted we had one hot meal a day at a roadhouse, We slept in the back of the wagon. One of my favourite childhood memories, Thanks dad.

[@topwiretraveller]

Great memories Bill, thanks for sharing. Cheers, Andrew

[@sergeant5848]

Nice! And here was I thinking the Old Eyre was reconstructed and covered over with the new road. Great to discover it's still there. Time to load the 4WD up and go drive-about.

[@topwiretraveller]

Yes, it's a bit different to the tarred road! Cheers, Andrew

[@aurelius2277]

Well this video brings back memories. My father and mother travelled on this road in December 1963 driving a 48 series cream Holden sedan with sleeper seat conversion. They had gas burner stove etc etc. They used to pull off the road to sleep and boil the billy and eat. They drove to Newcastle NSW where my brother was getting married in mid Jan 1964 and drove back to Perth after the wedding. Then in 1966 they did the return trip again in a FC Holden Sedan to visit me in Sydney and the brother in Newcastle towing a very small wooden caravan which mum said was a bit more comfortable than the sleeper seat. Their last return trip to Sydney was in 1968 driving a 1963 Humber Snipe Sedan with a big 6 cyl motor towing a much bigger van with all the mods and cons. This particular road was a legacy that was handed to WA when we joined the Commonwealth in 1901. In fact the then Premier Forrest was conned into joining anyhow. It was never declared a national project similar to the Railway Line.

[@topwiretraveller]

Thanks for sharing your story. It seems like the Old Eyre Hwy brings back many fond (and not so fond!) memories for many people. It must have been an epic adventure back when it was a rough dirt road. It's funny how we all think we need a 4WD now, when not so long ago a standard car was more than capable of doing the same trip. Although I'm not sure I'd like to be repairing their old cross-ply tyres on the side of the road! I never knew the road was handed to WA to look after. I do remember reading that building the rail line was a condition of WA joining the Federation. I wonder why they didn't insist on a similar thing for the road. Cheers, Andrew

[@aurelius2277]

@@topwiretraveller Yes it appears that I am wrong about the actual road. My parents in 1963 would have driven on the new alignment same as today that was progressively being sealed by the WA Govt which was finished in 1969 at the SA border. The Commonwealth refused to pay for the sealing. SA never finished the sealing until the 1970`s.

[@topwiretraveller]

@@aurelius2277 okay, thanks for clarifying this. Cheers, Andrew

[@elizabethrowe7262]

How incredible to see this footage now. Back in April 1973 when I first married we left Sydney two days after the ceremony and headed for Perth in the converted sleeper in the back seat of the Holden Kingswood, must say very uncomfortable. We felt like explorers travelling across the Nullarbor and were told that there was a few wash outs along the way. There was one place that seemed so tucked away but they catered for the traveler and that was Ivy Tanks. We had the best hamburger ever there and continued along our way to Perth. The unsealed was a challenge but was amazing! Were also told don't stop unless you are at a road house as told you would have rocks thrown at you otherwise from the natives. We didn't have any punctures either so that was good. The next time we went across was going from Perth to Sydney in a converted Kombi Van. There had been a fair bit of rain out there and we came across a few wash outs and decided the one we did go thru we did not know how deep it was and so revved the Kombi and went thru and was a decent hole and we both hit our heads on the roof of the Kombi just getting thru this. Stopped to check and noticed underneath the Kombi the bouncing thru the ditch had loosened the exhaust pipe so had to do a bit of fixing this before we continued on our way. So we travelled the Nullarbor 3 times and last time was on the new sealed road which is there now. Thanks for sharing it certainly brings back memories.

[@topwiretraveller]

Thanks for sharing the story of your adventures across the Nullarbor. I imagine your memories of the Old Eyre Highway from the 1970s would be very different to what's there now. Cheers, Andrew

[@elizabethrowe7262]

@@topwiretraveller Yes certainly would be. How I got onto this subject was a post about the THE NULLARBOR NYMPH which was posted by the State Library of Western Australia on FB this morning. This is the story, but the real truth was that the Nullarbor Nymph was created by beer. Roo shooter Laurie Scott and some mates, were sitting around the bar at the Eucla Motel, when they made up a yarn about a half-naked shelia living in the desert with the kangaroos. There is a teaser trailer film on KZbin and of course people were gullible and believed it for awhile. A good laugh!

[@topwiretraveller]

@@elizabethrowe7262 that’s a classic! I’ve seen a few things on the Nullarbor Nymph and it seemed pretty fanciful… a bit like the Black Panther that supposedly lives in the NSW Blue Mountains or the Yowie that’s supposed to live in the Snowy Mountains. Cheers, Andrew

[@NasTimeAdventures]

A bucket list track for me. Looks so interesting and peaceful.

[@topwiretraveller]

Yes, it's an interesting trip... and definitely peaceful and relaxing. Cheers, Andrew

[@ashleyflint3501]

Damm great video, I was 9 years old in 1963 when I went across with my parents in a black morris oxford. seemed to take forever to get to Southern Cross,

[@topwiretraveller]

That’s a great story Ashley, thanks for sharing. Cheers, Andrew

[@TrooperLFC]

pity we never got some footage from the vehicle :( awesome vid otherwise

[@geoffcameron1293]

Had my first birthday on that road in an old chev Ute back in 1967 with the old man

[@topwiretraveller]

What a place to have your first birthday! Cheers, Andrew

[@joyjones8396]

The first time I went across from West to East, the road was dirt from Madura to Ceduna. A little strip of bitumen up the Eucla Pass.

[@joyjones8396]

The nullarbor Roadhouse wasn't there in 1967, the Nullarbor homestead just north of the current roadhouse sold fuel out the back. The next fuel was at Ivy Tanks to the East

[@topwiretraveller]

@@joyjones8396 that would have been a rough and slow trip! Cheers, Andrew

[@brickpaver1]

I've done that old road so many times in the 60's and been doing the new road periodically ever since. Just getting ready to go across and back yet again , which will be trip number (approximately) 63. I currently admin the facebook group that I created over 5 years ago.....'Eyre Highway and Beyond' which currently has over 2,100 members. 😀

[@topwiretraveller]

Thanks for sharing the name of the Facebook Group! Cheers, Andrew

[@NasTimeAdventures]

That's amazing. How long do you recommend for doing this track? I'm based in Melbourne.

[@blake9358]

Mim mim light country between Madura and Mundrabilla, seen them myself, as they say seeing 👀 is believing. Between Cook and Rawlinna the temp can climb above ,52C .

[@topwiretraveller]

Interesting and very true - seeing is believing. Cheers, Andrew

[@colinl9018]

If travelling the Old Eyre Hwy keep your dog on a leash, Rule 001. Those shafts/caves look like they go all the way to China. What Vehicle were you using in this vid mate, it looks like a solid truck.

[@topwiretraveller]

Good tip. We travel in a 2016 Isuzu NPS 4WD truck with a Wedgetail Camper on the back. Cheers, Andrew

[@ethanlowry8757]

Someone needs to regread that road before it completely overgrows

[@topwiretraveller]

Maybe. The scrub gives it some character! Cheers, Andrew