MADIGAN'S HEART

THE SIMPSON DESERT CAN BE A BUSY PLACE IN PEAK SEASON, BUT A RUN ACROSS THE NORTHERN MADIGAN LINE CAN STILL PROVIDE THE ISOLATION MANY SEEK IN A RED CENTRE CROSSING

- JOHN DENMAN

THERE is a continuing fascination with wild places that compels us to seek them out. Not to claim to have conquered, but to be able to have been there. The Simpson Desert has long been one of those places high on the list of many outback travellers.

There are many reasons for crossing the Simpson Desert. For some, it's a tick in their list, for others it's almost a religious experience. Many years back I interviewed a man many would refer to as one the fathers of vehicular bush travel; the late Mike Leyland crossed the Simpson Desert with his brother in a couple of Land Rovers. Mike recalled, "We didn't 'conquer' it, we just got through it."

Today, seekers of isolation tend to ignore the popular French Line, and opt toward either the Hay River Track or as we did, the Madigan Line.

The latter follows Cecil Madigan's route taken with camels back in 1939.

Madigan was no stranger to isolation, having been to Antarctica with Sir Douglas Mawson, among his other accomplishments.

Today, you have to content yourself with following Madigan's route by a mostly well-defined track.

After topping up at Mt Dare, it's a short run across to Old Andado homestead; the last resident here was Molly Clark, a tough lady if ever there was one, who stayed on after the death of her husband Mac. Molly died back in 2012, but her homestead is considered a museum by most travellers.

If you visit here. Leave it as you find it. A caretaker will be found before long to make sure Molly's home is not desecrated.

Not far along from Old Andado is the Acacia Peuce Conservation Reserve.

Dedicated to Molly's husband Mac Clark, it preserves the few remaining waddi trees. The name came from the Aboriginal term waddi, which was a club used as a weapon. The wood in these trees is extremely hard, and therefore very useful as a weapon.