Central Australia Trip 2000

Day 4 Alice Springs to Chambers Pillar 166 kms.


After stocking up on food for the next section we left Alice Springs and took the road to Maryvale and Titjakata which follows the old railway line that was fondly known as "The Ghan" after the camel drivers who provided such an essential service in moving goods throughout the desert regions. Also, for a long time the rail terminus was at Oodnadatta and to get to Alice Springs from here everything was carried on the camel teams that were lead by the Afghans. While they were called Afghans, the drivers and their camels came mainly from present day Pakistan. The train line was originally built to the narrow gauge of 3 feet 6 inches and it passed through the sand hill country from Quorn to Marree, Oodnadatta then Alice Springs but whenever it rained the train would be stranded. It also had a reputation of never getting in on time but no one worried about that! The new standard gauge line was built during the 1980s and the passenger train is still called the Ghan.

Lunch was at the Ewaninga Rock Carvings reserve where there are rock carvings or petroglyphs done in the soft sandstone. There is a clay pan nearby and this would have made the site popular for longer stays by the Aborigines. For a while after rain there would be ample game, water and time to patiently peck a record of their beliefs into the sandstone. It is not known exactly how old the petroglyphs are but it is believed that they were made by Aborigines who lived here earlier than the current tribes. To the Arremte Aboriginals this is still regarded as a sacred site and the meaning of the designs cannot be divulged to others than the adult males of the Arremte tribe. Due to the plentiful supply of water and grasses, there were many finches flying around and around the clumps of the Spinifex grass were many lizard tracks to be seen in the red sand.
Creek crossing on way to Chambers Pillar.

Passing by the small aboriginal community of Titjikala the road changed to a four wheel drive track with some long sandy sections and where the Hugh River was forded, there was still water flowing. Further on, once a steep ridge in the Charlotte Ranges was climbed, the track entered the sand dunes and several had to be crossed before the Reserve was reached. There are also several gates to be opened along the way which provides some good exercise for the front seat passenger.



Entrance to Chambers Pillar Reserve.

Chambers Pillar is a remnant of the large sandstone deposits that were laid down some 340 million years ago. Since then wind and rain have eroded away the softer material leaving this solitary column of pebbly sandstone some 50 metres tall. It was first sighted by Europeans in 1860 when John McDouall Stuart came across it on his first attempt to cross Australia.

Chambers Pillar from the Reserve Gate.

In the Aboriginal Dreamtime it is said the Gecko ancestor Itirkawara (pronounced it-turk-kar-wara) left the Finke River and journeyed north eastwards. As he traveled he grew into a huge and powerfully built man of super human strength and extreme violence of temper. On the way home to his birthplace he successfully challenged and killed, with his stone knife, a number of other unfortunate ancestors. Flushed with the ease of his successes he then disregarded the strict marriage code and took a wife from the wrong skin group. His enraged relatives promptly banished him and the girl. The two retreated into the desert, Itirkawara raging in fury, the girl shrinking from him in deep shame. Among the dunes they became weary and turned into prominent rocky formations, Itirkawara into the Pillar, the girl, still turning her face away from him in shame, into Castle Rock, which is nearby.


Limited camping facilities were available with some cleared areas between the spinifex. We walked to the Pillar and a path and boardwalk has been constructed to about half way up the Pillar in order to protect the fragile environment. At sunset the Pillar glows in the setting sun's rays.
Our camp site with some one taking it easy.

Christine. I went on a walk with Dad. We were going to take a photo of the Chambers Pillar at sunset but it was too cloudy. We walked from the campsite to the Pillar and climbed up the walkway there. We're having a campfire tonight. On the way in over the sand dunes, Il noticed that it was smooth at the top while the rest of the track was bumpy. Also the sandy countryside had tall cliffs with dead flat tops.

Day 5 Chambers Pillar to Kulgera 343.9 kms.


There was a wide array of wild flowers to be found here, many of them were small and protected by the Spinifex grasses, while others formed large clumps and covered in bright yellow, white or blue flowers. The most common varieties belong to the Everlasting Daisy family.

From Chambers Pillar we drove back to Titjikala then took a rarely used track which was a short cut back to the 4WD track which follows the old railway line to Finke. This track wandered around sand dunes and through creek beds and eventually it joined the old railway line. Here we met some travellers who were providing the support vehicles to one who was walking a camel from Alice Springs to Geelong in order to raise funds for a cancer victim in Geelong.
Left. Lamberts Centre of Australia marker. Right. Camel met on the old railway line to Finke.

The track now followed the old railway embankment and provided a faster run though it was corrugated and detours had to be made at the creek crossings. The only buildings here are the ones belonging to the railways, mainly the fettlers' barracks where the railway track gangers would live. There was a deep patch of bull-dust just before the Finke River was forded at the Finke settlement. The Finke River still had a lot of water in it and it is a wide crossing and at the other side there is a long and deep patch of sand to plough through.

Bull dust patches on the Road to Finke.



Finke was an important stopover point on the railway but when the railway closed the town declined but now it is run as an Aboriginal Community with a population of 250 people. While there is not much work around it is a dry community (no alcohol allowed) and like Tiljikala it is situated in a very dry and dusty region, both settlements are tidy. The town is the halfway point for the annual Finke Desert Race a grueling 2-day race for off road vehicles and bikes. It is a challenge just to finish it. From here tracks lead out to Old Anadoo, a cattle station on the edge of the Simpson Desert. It is quite remote and its owner is a woman of some 70 + years but she still runs it. Now she also takes in tourists who wish to experience a proper cattle station without the modern conveniences. As a result of the heavy rains earlier in the year and the flood waters still flowing down the rivers, the track in was still closed.

The road to Kulgera was a gravel road and it had been recently graded after the rains so the 150 kms run into Kulgera only took a couple of hours though we made a detour into the Lambert's Centre of Australia. This point has been determined as Australia's centre of gravity and it is marked by a 5 metre high replica of the flagpole found on top of the Parliament House in Canberra.

Christine wrote. We went through bull dust today and it looked like muddy water as it billowed out from under the car as Mum took a photo. When she opened her door she freaked out at all the dust. But imagine what it would have been like if Daddy still had his old Land Rover, we would have looked like my chicken after it had been in a mud bath. This one has air conditioning and the door seals kept out all the dust so the trip was a lot more comfortable for my Mummy and me.