A trip on the Ghan
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Finke Riverwritten by Jim Downes photography by Berthold Daum |
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A measure of the vast dryness of inland
Australia is the fact that along the whole journey of 1,555 kilometres from
Adelaide to Alice Springs, The Ghan crosses only two major watercourses.
They appear on maps as the Rivers Hugh and Finke but for most of the time
they are rivers of sand, with hardy River Red Gums driving their roots deep
into the river beds in search of moisture deep underground.
Substantial bridges cross both stream beds because both can become dangerously flooded if there’s heavy rain upstream. In the days of the original Ghan line to Alice Springs, the Finke had an appetite for rail bridges: Six months after the rails reached the Alice in 1929, the Finke came down in flood and washed away the new bridge north of Oodnadatta. No trains ran for six weeks, while a stone causeway was laid, and that served until the early 1960s when a new bridge was built. It too was destroyed by the flooded Finke in 1967. The Finke bridge on the standard gauge route of The Ghan is as flood proof as can be built. The Finke has not yet tested its strength....
Chambers' Pillar
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