South Australia (Outback Region)
Marree
Its first name was Hergott Springs, and for a long time Marree was a staging post for the camel trains used to transport heavy goods north and south along the Oodnadatta and Birdsville Tracks. Until 1980 it was a major station along the Ghan Railway journey to Alice Springs. Today, it is a service centre for the enormous cattle stations in the area.
The town is a collection of tattered houses which somehow outlived the old Ghan’s demise in 1980, leaving carriages to rust on sidings and rails to be used for tethering posts outside the hotel. Although it was first a camel depot, then a staging post for the overland telegraph line, and finally the point where the rail line skirted northwest around Lake Eyre, today all traffic comes by road and is bound for the Birdsville Track into Queensland or the Oodnadatta Track, which follows the former train route to Oodnadatta and beyond into the Northern Territory or Simpson Desert.

Accommodation is limited to the hotel on the main street, which is also good for lunch or dinner, and the caravan park run by the Oasis Café, a fairly well-stocked shop, fuel and fast-food outlet which was originally the telegraph relay station. The General Store (tel 08/8675 8360), across the railway track towards Oodnadatta, doubles as a Commonwealth Bank agent and post office with fuel and EFTPOS. If it’s open, visit the Arabana Community Centre, where friendly staff explain how each type of boomerang is used.

Attractions
  • MOUND SPRINGS Approximately 130 kilometres west of Marree are some fine examples of the many mound springs found in the area. Their discovery around the rim of the Great Artesian Basin enabled pastoral settlement in the outback. They also dictated the path of the Overland Telegraph, the Ghan Railway and stock route, the Oodnadatta Track. They include Bubbler and Blanchecup Mound Springs. Coward Springs is like an oasis, the warm water bubbling up out of the ground, with date palms providing a refuge for the many birds that frequent the area.
  • CURDIMURKA SIDING AND ARTESIAN BORE One hundred and twenty one kilometres west of Marree, a section of the original Ghan line remains at the old Curdimurka Siding. Three old settlers cottages, a water tank and sheds have been retained by the Ghan Preservation Society; there is also an artesian bore next to the siding.
  • KILLALPANINNA LUTHERAN MISSION MEMORIAL At Etadunna Homestead 121 kilometres north of Marree is a memorial commemorating the efforts of the people who ran the Lutheran Aboriginal Mission, the ruins of which are just to the north- west. The mission was built in 1867 and once cared for two hundred Aboriginal people. The severe drought of 1915 forced its closure.
  • LAKE EYRE SOUTH South Australia's giant inland ocean, Lake Eyre is 81 kilometres west of Marree and can be seen from the Oodnadatta Track. There are two lookouts next to the road and a rough track leads to the lake shore.