The Ghan: A Great Australian Train Journey

The Ghan is a living legend in Australian history and offers the
ultimate journey through the heart of the Australian continent.
Named after Afghan cameleers who originally helped open up the
desert interior of Australia in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, the Ghan is at once a luxury railway train and a 3000
kilometre railway journey that meanders from the fertile
Adelaide countryside through the rusty red hues of Central
Australia to the tropical splendour of the Top End.

The railway line began its colourful life as the Northern
Railway in 1878, at the height of a national railway boom, in
the hope of developing the pastoral and mining potential of the
Australian interior. Soon becoming known affectionately as The
Ghan, by 1891 the line reached from Port Augusta to the outback
town of Oodnadatta in northern South Australia. Oodnadatta
remained the end of the line for the next forty years.

In 1895, in an effort to advance construction of the line, it
was stated that \the interior was not all desert, but had
extensive areas of good land fit for cultivation and a variety
of tropical products\. The line was finally extended to the
Central Australian town of Alice Springs in 1929, and remained
there until 2003 when a major project to extend the line through
to the Northern Territory capital, Darwin, was completed.

Until 1929, almost all goods to Alice Springs were transported
by camel trains driven by Afghan tribesmen adept at handling
these hardy \'ships of the desert\'. The camel trains would meet
the train at the railhead in Oodnadatta and carry goods ranging
from pianos, motors, and furniture to food supplies, mail,
newspapers and clothing on to Alice Springs. The arrival of the
camel trains was always a time of great excitement. The camels
remained a viable means of transport in Central Australia for so
long because the development of motor transport was hindered by
a lack of well formed roads and the reliable availability of
fuel supplies.

Part of the Ghan\'s legendary reputation derives from the many
mishaps which occurred during the early years of its operation.
The 1520 km journey from Adelaide to Alice Springs passed
through some of the driest and most difficult country on earth.
Normally dry rivers would frequently flood after a downpour and
run several kilometres wide, sweeping railway tracks, bridges
and other infrastructure away in their path. Sometimes the train
would not arrive for weeks or even months. At one point during
the 1970\'s the Ghan was not sighted in Alice Springs for 3
months and essential supplies had to be flown into the town
daily.

By 1980 the Ghan\'s route had been relocated a considerable
distance to the west, and the line upgraded from narrow gauge to
the wider Australian standard gauge. In the process, many new
bridges and earth works were completed, and the Ghan\'s
reputation for unreliability became history.

Today the modern Ghan is a world-class luxury railway and
renowned attraction for travellers wishing to experience the
real Australia in comfort. The 3000 km journey from Adelaide to
Darwin via Alice Springs takes two days, and passes through just
three other towns of any size, Port Augusta in South Australia
and Tennant Creek and Katherine in the Northern Territory.