Too Long in the Bush

by Len Beadell

Hard to find edition.

Genres: Australia, Travel, Nonfiction, Autobiography

192 pages

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Veronica Schwarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Len Beadell (sadly now dead), has a lovely humourous writing style accompanied by his own delightful cartoonlike illustrations. He tells how, from 1956 to 1958, he and his team surveyed, mapped and built the first road across Australia from East to West (Alice Springs to north of Kalgoorlie), and along the way, surveyed and built the Giles meteorological Station and aerodrome, as well as the occasional aerodrome to make life easier for the people living remotely. Such a book could have been as boring as the proverbial. Not so. Len Beadell and his team risked their lives battling heat and distance, vehicle breakdowns and lack of food and water, hundreds of miles from rescue or supplies. We take such roads for granted now without a thought as to how they were created by the talent, courage, endurance and sheer ingenuity of a small group of men. Along the way, you will meet station managers and stockmen, families whose nearest neighbours are five hundred miles away, and Aborignal groups who tolerate, help, laugh with and are helped by the strange white fellas. Read it.

[Any Length · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazing and funny account of Len Beadell's bush existence while preparing roads and rocket launch sites in Australia. He is a true blue Aussie.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have to be a special type to cope with, let alone enjoy working and living, for weeks on end in hot, harsh, Australian outback, all without aircon... This man and his versatile team: cook, grader and bulldozer drivers, "cherry"picker and engineer/mechanic/driver (who is as often away picking up supplies), can go for weeks without seeing anyone else. Pushing roads through central Australia in the early 60's, they actually encountered Aboriginals who'd never contacted whites before.
Len Beadell's intelligence, sense of humour come through in his writing, bringing the spartan and isolated lifestyles and experiences to life.

[Alan Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the autobiography of Len Beadell who was responsible for building the Gunbarrel Highway as well as the Maralinga and Woomera sites.

It was incredi9bly interesting with a mixture of amusing anecdotes and personal insights into outback Australia. His exploits as a bush mechanic, a bush dentist, and obviously a very good surveyor are compulsive reading.

A thoroughly interesting read including some great stories aboy repairs he hadf to make on the run to his trusty Land Rover.

[Mary Monks · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an entertaining writer this man is!
Who would have thought that a book talking about the making of a road across Central Australia would be so interesting and funny!?
The first time I came across this fellow was on a DVD discussing the same topic. Hilarious!!!
If you have travelled on the Gunbarrel Highway, you would know the area very well.

[Chris Klitzing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great account of the building of the iconic Gunbarrell Hwy that was the first inland link East to west. Finished in 1957!!
The resilience and ingenuity shown by Bidell and his team was unbelievable
Also for me it was an interesting read because I have driven the Gunbarrell Hwy and the 2 days it took to drive 300 klm was an experience I will never forget
Terrific story
😊😊

[Sam Turbill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stories of what was a very tough time to be out in the bush, makes travelling around Aus in a van abit of a laugh compared to Len's problems he encountered!

[Rogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous, interesting and eye opening - a great short account by the man who lead a team surveying and building the highway that connects the east and west of Australia in the 50s.

[Dillwynia Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The building of the Gunbarrell Hwy from a station near the South Australian/ Northern Territory border to a cattle station in Western Australia some 1500 miles away is an impressive venture, especially when you consider that for much of the region is isolated, harsh and by then almost completely uninhabited.

We are talking about the years 1956- 58, men still have the practical skills from the 2nd World War and the northern portion of South Australia has been opened up as an atomic testing site. The Government realises a road through arid central Australia and meteorological station are needed and there are men who are ideally skilled to carry this out.

Enter Len Beadell and the his crew which he called the Gunbarrell team. This memoir is full of facts of the hardships, trials, excitements, and laconic Australian humour that will suit most armchair travellers. Len comes from another time, so some of his language towards the traditional owners of the region treats them as a more simplistic peoples, but it is important to remember that it would be a further 10 years for tribal people to encounter white men for the first time & come off country.

The method of aligning the road and building it was simple- basic use of a theodolite, a bulldozer and grader - but it also had it's hardships: all those punctured tyres for a start. Beadell in one reconnaissance trip ran out of water due to excessive temperatures, but encounters a rockhole and manages to get out of his fix.

For those of us who have thought Giles an exotic location, or like me been lucky enough to drive along a portion of this road, reading how it was constructed was a delight and easy read.

[Colleen O'grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work of Beadell's tells of his road-building from 1956-1958 to make Australia's most incredible road, The Gunbarrell Highway. Tourist buses churn up the dust on this notorious track every winter even today, camping beside the road every night. Loaded four-wheelers also churn the dust. The road starts from Victoria Downs Station in the Northern Territory and meanders across the Gibson Desert, dodging salt lakes, thick scrub and steeply-sloped sand dunes, passing through the Warburton Range Mission much to the astonishment of its inhabitants and finishing up at Carnegie Station in remote eastern Western Australia. The first and only road to cross Central Australia

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too long in the bush by Len Beadell (1969)

[Smithie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great recollection of times gone past, the gun barrel would be a great trip a

[Joanne Smethurst]

Loved it.

I was surprised how well written and easy it is to read. Sometimes people who have led incredible lives sometimes can't well write about it. But Len can and did.

Would love to get my hands on some of his other books.