Flying to Barren Birdsville for a Day at the Races

Except for the first 10 minutes of the 2 1/2-hour flight from Broken Hill, New South Wales, the route to this tiny town had been over barren desert.

As we descended, the outlines of a horse racing oval emerged dimly from the terrain of red sand dunes and scrub.

A closer look showed dust tufts kicked up by running horses--and about 2,000 people standing around watching.

We buzzed the town in about a second. Then the plane, under the guidance of a temporary air-traffic control tower mounted in the bed of a pickup truck, landed on hard-packed sand.

Birdsville looked mild enough, although a couple of hundred Australian men were drinking beer in the middle of the “highway” outside the Birdsville Hotel (circa 1884).

They moved aside for vehicles arriving from the two-day, bone-crunching trek by four-wheel drive over the notorious Birdsville Track, a cattle-transport road leading from Adelaide on the Southern Ocean to this minuscule dot on the map 720 miles to the north in Queensland.

Birdsville is as outback as you can get in the eastern half of Australia; the nearest town is 120 miles away.

The variety of Aussies who attend the races makes an intriguing gathering at the Birdsville Hotel, where a chalkboard in the pub features messages such as “Pat--contact Peaches” or “Dr. Peare, ring home immediately.”

Given Birdsville’s isolation, it’s not surprising to learn that the “Diamantina Amateur Race Club’s Central West Meeting”--the two days of racing at Birdsville--partly benefits the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the town’s only medical provider.

The races, which began in 1882, also help the town in other important ways.

“The pubs (two) are better-class pubs than you’d find in an average town this size,” said David Brook, owner of most of Birdsville--the store, one of the two fuel stations, the hotel (including one of the pubs) and a 3,000-square-mile cattle station abutting the township.

Brook, a 39-year-old father of six, was born in Birdsville, so he knows a great deal about the races.

The town’s power system, for example, owes its existence to the races. Originally, Birdsville was powered by an artesian bore, or hot spring.

“Someone got sophisticated and got an air conditioner,” Brook said. “Then someone got another. The steam plant couldn’t power two air conditioners, so the town converted to diesel generation.”

Now the town has 20 air conditioners.

Apart from the yearly race meeting, Birdsville can offer only a lot of open space. “There’s nowhere as remote” in eastern Australia, Brook said.

Many early explorers thought the same. A historical marker across from the hotel is inscribed: “E. A. (Ted) Colsun with Aboriginal Companion, Peter, crossed the Simpson Desert, 1936.” Accompanied by five camels, says the marker, the men traveled 600 miles in 40 days.

The annual race meeting apparently is the town’s only wing-ding.

The purses for the dozen or so races add up to $21,000, a significant amount for Birdsville and a sum that prompted the installation of a camera for photo-finishes for the 1987 meeting. The richest race has a purse of about $4,000.

A couple of thousand people usually show up for the Friday races and almost 3,000 watch the Saturday events. Not a bad showing for a town of fewer “than a hundred, counting the dogs,” which is how Brook describes it.

The fastest way to get to the races is to fly. In 1967 eight aircraft showed up, stunning the locals. In 1969, 35 planes (five more aircraft than autos in Birdsville) flew in, and, by 1987, 200 were a common sight.

On the afternoon of my visit several pilots--warned of an impending rainstorm by sand blowing horizontally across the oval--decided to leave early to avoid becoming stranded in the mud bath the landing strip would become. Our plane joined them.

Ominous dark clouds caught us, however, and before long our six-seater was yawing and hopping violently.

I was in the back seat. It was fearsome. The plane shuddered and lurched. A camera bag slammed against the ceiling. Everyone was quiet and pale and avoided looking at the wild landscape far below.

Fortunately, we landed safely.

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This year’s Birdsville Races are Sept. 1-2.

Birdsville is seven miles north of the southwest border of Queensland. Most people reach the town from South Australia or New South Wales. Light-aircraft charters are available in Adelaide and Broken Hill.

You can rent a camper-van or other heavy-duty rig and drive here in two days to a week or more, depending on how often you stop.

From Adelaide, take Highway 1 north to Port Augusta, then turn onto Route 83 through Hawker and Lyndhurst, where the pavement ends. From Marree all the way to Birdsville the Birdsville Track is a challenging dirt road. You’ll even pass through a section of the Dingo Fence north of Marree.

The track skirts some of Australia’s most arid regions. Carry plenty of water, food and spare parts. Habitation is scattered, and few homesteads are close to the track. To be sure that help can be sent in case of an emergency, motorists are required to check in with police at both ends of the journey.

For a different kind of adventure, try the weekly airmail and passenger service starting in Adelaide and stopping at cattle stations along the Birdsville Track. Contact Augusta Airways in Port Augusta or Adelaide, S.A.

Or you can take a guided, four-wheel-drive tour. I traveled with several guides in this area, and can recommend four: Jim Larsen, G’Day South Australian Adventure Tours, P.O. Box 222, Nairne, S.A. 5252; Mal Schultz, Treckabout Safaris, 30 Berryman Drive, Modbury, S.A. 5092; Bruce Robjohns, Wanderer Tours, P.O. Box 591, Broken Hill, N.S.W. 2880, and Stephen Bottom, Corner Country Adventures, 35 Sulphide St., Broken Hill, N.S.W. 2880.

Air New South Wales offers direct service to Broken Hill from Sydney four times a week.

For more information on reaching Birdsville from Adelaide, contact the South Australian Travel Centre at 18 King William St., Adelaide, S.A. 5000. From Brisbane, contact the Queensland Tourist and Travel Corp., G.P.O. Box 328, Brisbane, Qld. 4001.

Every day except Wednesday and Sunday, Qantas flies from Los Angeles to Adelaide via Sydney. Through Aug. 31, the round-trip fare is $1,061 (including tax).

For more information on travel to Australia, contact Tourism Australia, Australian Tourist Commission, 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1200, Los Angeles 90067, phone (213) 552-1988.