Flinders Highway, Queensland
Flinders Highway | |
---|---|
Flinders Highway (green on black) | |
General information | |
Type | Highway |
Length | 775 km (482 mi) |
Route number(s) | A6 |
Former route number | National Route 78 |
Major junctions | |
West end | Barkly Highway (National Highway A2), Cloncurry |
| |
East end | Bruce Highway (National Highway A1), Townsville |
Location(s) | |
Major settlements | Julia Creek, Richmond, Hughenden, Charters Towers |
Highway system | |
The Flinders Highway is a highway that crosses Queensland east to west, from Townsville on the Pacific coast to Cloncurry. The road continues as the Barkly Highway from Cloncurry to the Northern Territory border at Camooweal and beyond. The Flinders Highway passes a number of small outback towns and typical outback landscape predominates towards the inland. It was known as National Route 78 before Queensland began to convert to the alphanumeric system being adopted in Australia and is now designated as A6. The highway is also known as Overlander's Way.[1] Its entire length is part of the National Land Transport Network (formerly Auslink).[2]
Towns
Charters Towers
Charters Towers, 133 km to the south west from Townsville. A former gold rush town with a population of 30 000 in 1890. At that time it was known as "The World" because it seemed to be the centre of everything. Presently it is a centre for cattle grazing, with gold mining continuing to be an important industry. Much of the elegant gold rush architecture of the nineteenth remains in place and is a tourist attraction.
Pentland
Hughenden
Located 243 km further on, Hughenden, the administrative centre of Flinders shire is in the heart of sheep and cattle country.
Richmond
Richmond, a former gold rush town located 112 km further west. Currently a pastoral centre.
Julia Creek
Julia Creek, 147 km further west, another pastoral settlement
Cloncurry
Cloncurry, former copper-mining town located 139 km west from Julia Creek. The first regular Qantas flights started between here and Charleville in 1922 and Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia service started here in 1928. Nowadays it is an important road and rail junction. Flinders Highway ends here.
Major intersections
LGA | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Townsville | Stuart | 0 | 0.0 | Bruce Highway (National Route A1) - north-west - Townsville / Bruce Highway (National Route A1) - south-east - Ayr / Southern Port Road - north-east - Port of Townsville | Eastern end of Flinders Highway (National Route A6) |
1.9 | 1.2 | Stuart Drive - north - Townsville | Flinders Highway continues south on Stuart Drive | ||
Burdekin River | 105 | 65 | Macrossan Bridge (see also Great Northern Railway (Mt Isa line) | ||
Charters Towers | Charters Towers | 122 | 76 | Gregory Highway (State Route 63) - west - Greenvale | Northern concurrency terminus with Gregory Highway / Flinders Highway continues south-west through Charters Towers |
Black Jack | 130 | 81 | Gregory Highway (State Route A7) - south - Clermont | Southern concurrency terminus with Gregory Highway | |
Flinders | Torrens Creek | 284 | 176 | Torrens Creek Aramac Road (State Route 18) - south - Aramac | |
Hughenden | 371 | 231 | Hughenden Muttaburra Road (State Route 19) - south - Muttaburra | ||
373.0 | 231.8 | Kennedy Developmental Road (State Route 62) - west - Winton | Southern concurrency terminus with Kennedy Developmental Road | ||
373.1 | 231.8 | Kennedy Developmental Road (State Route 62) - north - Mount Garnet | Northern concurrency terminus with Kennedy Developmental Road | ||
McKinlay | Julia Creek | 637 | 396 | Julia Creek Kynuna Road (State Route 84) - south - Kynuna | |
640 | 400 | Wills Developmental Road (State Route 84) - north-west - Burketown | |||
Cloncurry | Cloncurry | 759 | 472 | Landsborough Highway (National Route A2) - south-east - Kynuna | Eastern concurrency terminus with Landsborough Highway |
Cloncurry River | 775.0 | 481.6 | Ernest Henry Bridge | ||
Cloncurry | Cloncurry | 775.2 | 481.7 | Burke Developmental Road (National Route 83) - north - Normanton / Barkly Highway (National Route A2) - west - Mount Isa | Western concurrency terminus with Landsborough Highway. Western end of Flinders Highway |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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See also
References
- ^ "Outback Australia - Australian Outback". Outbacknow.com.au. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
- ^ http://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/whatis/network/images/QLD_National_Land_Transport_Network_Road_Corridors_update_2014.pdf
External links
- Overlander's Highway A driving guide by Roderick Eime