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Published: January 20th 2010
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Woomera?
South Australia Woomera
26th November 09 - 27th November 09
Where on earth is Woomera? Who has ever heard of this place? I sure hadn't! But you know what, this made it all the more interesting! Of all the places I have been thus far, Woomera draws the best memories because I really was walking into the unknown and I came out with so much more knowledge on this tiny little town out in the middle of nowhere. And these are the places people want to hear about. Uluru, Kings Canyon, Kakadu, Darwin.... chances are most people have been there, done that, saw a doco on it or read about it in a travel article or glossy brochure. How many people have heard of or better yet been to Woomera? Not many I have found because talking to people about it they are quite fascinated by the tales I tell. While nothing particularly dramatic happened to me at Woomera, it was learning how this town came to be that really drew me in. It really is an important part of Australia's history.
Woomera is like the twilight zone! Driving into the town I just could not stop saying to myself
'where the hell am I? What is this place?' It is so bizarre! The town looks like it has come right out of a 1950's American movie (remember that movie Pleasantville... kind of like that). The houses are all the same, the streets perfectly aligned, the streets are too neat, the local swimming pool is the nicest one I have ever seen, the side walks are manicured to perfection, all the building are the same colour, there are rows and rows of outdated apartment blocks and every few hundred metres you come across a blue post with a number on it!!! Confused yet? Now all this wasn't the thing that got me, it was the fact that this town appeared to be completely EMPTY! Not a soul around. Even in the campground there was a sign on the office window that advised that no one was there and to just make yourself at home. Ok so it wasn't a beautiful day, grey and overcasted, but it was 5 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon! I had to know, where the hell is everyone???
I went to the supermarket, thinking it was closed but it wasn't and the only soul there
Canberra Bomber
Built in 1954, it has two Rolls Royce Avon 101 jet engines that have a max speed of 917km/h! was the checkout operator who was a perfect looking teenage girl. Ok now I'm starting to think I am indeed in Pleasantville! And the supermarket was massive, bigger than most town supermarkets. Even at the campground, there were a few caravans but no people in sight. I did manage to find life when two other travelling vans pulled into the campground just after me. I wasn't alone in my thoughts of the town and it was nice to have some company and laughs for the night. The sunset over the campground was outstanding but it sure was cold. We got some rain overnight, it's pretty miserable weather at the moment actually.
The next morning I finally met the owner of the campground and he was more than happy to answer all my questions about the town, firstly where is everyone? Well it turns out that Woomera was indeed built back in the 1950's by the military. The entire town was built so that explains why it is so rigid and structured. The streets were built in a U shape so that no one could reach high speed and thus making it safer for the kiddies in the neighbourhoods. Mostly
American military and their families lived out here and at one time the population of Woomera was roughly 7000. Today the population is 400! So a town built for 7000 has only 400 people living in it, this explains why its so empty looking... it is!
Woomera was home to rocket, missile and satellite testing. It still today is very much a military town and during my stay it was the Singaporean army that was in town. There is the Woomera Heritage Centre in the park filled with ex-military rockets, missiles, planes, satellites and guns. If you look on a map you will see a big area north of Woomera titled 'Woomera Prohibited Area', this is where they still today test rockets and missiles. It is in fact the largest land-based missile and rocket range in the western world today. NASA operated a deep space tracking station 25km south of Woomera in the 1960's. The owner at the campground reckons they were tracking 'Russian spy satellites'! Mmmmm, I wonder!
A plaque in the Woomera Heritage Park read: " American Institue of Aeronautic's and Astronautics Historic Aerospace Site. Established in 1947 as a joint project between Britian and Australia,
the Woomera Range has a long and distinguished history of weapon testing and rocket launches. The first Australian satellite was launched here in 1967. Woomera also aided in the tracking of early satellites and the Mercury manned spacecraft. For over 60 years to the present day Woomera has been an integral part of the defense and aerospace efforts in Australia and around the World." Woomera was where the first Australian designed and built satellite was launched on 29 November 1967. The launch of this satellite placed Australia fourth in the world, after the USSR, France & USA, to launch a satellite.
And those blue posts with the numbers on them? Well my friend at the campground explained that that was where the American soldiers were picked up by the buses. Pretty simple really. So it looks like I got all my answers and learnt a hell of a lot in the meantime! I am really happy I ventured into Woomera, I still think about it today as one of the most interesting and intriguing places I have visited so far. Outback SA is really a bizzare landscape where you can't imagine anything living. It is littered with salt lakes
and scrub and the odd pack of emu's (or maybe it's called a flock of emu's... I don't know). So if your driving along and you come across the tiny roadhouse of Pimba, take the turn off to Woomera, you will be surprised.
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