Len Beadell's Books

Mark Shephard has written an unashamedly eulogistic biography - anyone who has met Len Beadell will understand why. For the first time Len's life has been chronicled, from the early influences which spawned his love of the outback to the years as tour guide and unsurpassable bush camp yarn spinner.

Len Beadell can lay claim to being the last of the great explorers of Australia: in the 1950's and 60's he undertook solo surveys which led to the building of roads through the most inaccessible tracts of the outback. But Len was more than just a surveyor - he was an author, cartoonist, raconteur and, above all, a great family man.
This book is more than a biography. The detailed appendix is a gazetteer which will prove an invaluable guide to Lenny's greatest legacy to Australia, the 6000 km of outback highways.

Soft Cover  246 Pages

'When your grader breaks down in the middle of the desert, there's only one thing you can do - attach it to your bulldozer and tow it back to civilisation'. 192pp

Beadell tells the story of the people who worked on the project for selecting and preparing the location for the weapons testing trials. 212pp.

This is the story of Beadells second road across Australia which was driven 1600kms from east to west, from South Australia to Western Australia through the heart of the Great Victoria Desert. Construction took years, as the road was driven through almost impenetrable mulga scrub and over sand ridges, which until Beadell's bulldozer came along, had stopped everthing but camels. 163pp.

As usual, it was hard work and rollicking adventure for the Gunbarrel Road Construction Party as they surveyed and built their last three highways across the desserts of Central Australia. 206pp.

This is a high-spirited account of the work that had to be done on the multi-billion dollar weapons testing project in the Australian outback "before they called it Woomera". 175pp. 

Straight as a gunbarrel, they bulldozed their way through saltbush, sand-dunes, desert and  salt lakes to make Australia's most incredible road - The Gunbarrel Highway.

A compilation of the six books above. Now available again.

Len Beadell's name is now part of the folklore of the Australian outback, and he has achieved something resembling hero status amongst many people who might be inclined to describe themselves as "typical Australians". However, it would be quite incorrect and misleading to describe this notable man himself as a "typical Australian". Len Beadell was an exceptional Australian; he was a man of unusual and unique qualities and personality. He did not drink, smoke or swear, and was moderately religious. People who knew him well refer to his great personal integrity, strong sense of humour, cheerfulness in adversity, and extreme resourcefulness. He rarely if ever wrote or spoke ill of anyone; on reading his several books it would seem that if he couldn't write something favourable about a person, he said nothing.