Marree - Outback - South Australia

MARREE - SOUTH AUSTRALIA - 5733
	Population: 400, Height above sea level: , Latitude: 29.3900 Longitude: 138.0400 Location: 675km north of Adelaide Highway: Marree, Birdsville & Oodnadatta Tracks Nearest Major Town: Port Augusta Nearest Airport: Coober Pedy Touring Area: Flinders Ranges & The Outback		The popular Marree Pub.

Marree is located in the mid north of the state and is at the junction of the Birdsville and Oodnadatta tracks 675 km. north of Adelaide.
First named as Hergott Springs after a German botanist by explorer John McDouall Stuart who visited in 1859 in his search for a path from Adelaide to the northern coast, and noted in 1840 by explorer Edward John Eyre who crossed from Adelaide towards Perth it has a colourful and important history. 'Marree' (aboriginal for possum), became the end of the railway line in 1883 and the staging post for camel trains which were the main means of transporting supplies and heavy loads on to Alice Springs and around the outback.
It was also the site of Australia's first Mosque, built to provide for the Afghan camellers who were responsible for moving goods on.
In 1929 the railway was extended to Alice Springs although it was of a different guage and and Marree became a major break-of-gauge station on the "Ghan" rail journey. The cameleers became redundant.
In the 1980s a new line via Tarcoola and Coober Pedy to the west bypassed the route completely and the towns along the way fell into hard times.

Set in a landscape of mainly level saltbush flats, Marree is now a small service centre for the vast station properties of the north-east of the state and for travellers along the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks. Nearby Lake Eyre is below sea level and fed by several major rivers which flow after heavy or constant rain an create an inland sea and a major tourist attraction.
There is a hotel (meals & accommodation), caravan park, general stores (fuel), post office, take away foods, public telephone, hospital and police station. A weekly bus service operates.

Two-up fills in time while waiting for the Ghan.

SEE OODNADATTA TRACK MAP.

SEE BIRDSVILLE TRACK MAP.

SEE OODNADATTA TRACK INFORMATION.

SEE BIRDSVILLE TRACK INFORMATION.

PLACES OF INTEREST:
A memorial in the main street commemorates the crossing of the Simpson Desert on camel by Cecil T. Madigan and party in 1939. South of Marree is the ghost town of Farina, which was formerly the rail-head for the northern line which eventually reached Alice Springs in 1929. Other points of interest include the Mosque, the Centenary Cairn (erected on the corner of the Birdsville Track in 1983). A Picnic Race meeting and Gymkhana is held each June.

Aboriginal Heritage Museum

Afghan Memorial Park

Simpson Desert Crossing Memorial

Mound Springs Conservation Park

Camel Sculpture made from railway sleepers

Lake Eyre National Park

ACCOMMODATION & SERVICES:

Category:

INFORMATION CENTRE:
Marree Outback Roadhouse
Main St. Marree. SA 5733 Ph: 08 8675 8360

HOW TO GET THERE:
From the south along the Highway 83 from Port Augusta. From the north, along the Birdsville or Oodnadatta Tracks. (4WD may be required at times.) Ph: 1300 361 033 for road information.

Regional airstrip

Coach or Rail