science

Murranji Track

Murranji Track is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Murranji Track rather than just read about it. In short: The Murranji Track or Murranji Stock Route is a stock route in the Northern Territory of Australia and it runs between Newcastle Waters and Top Springs. The track was primarily operational between 1904 and the late 1960s and it attracted descriptions as the "ghost road of the Drovers" and the "death track".

Key takeaways

Murranji Track belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Murranji Track to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Murranji Track from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Murranji Track or Murranji Stock Route is a stock route in the Northern Territory of Australia and it runs between Newcastle Waters and Top Springs. The track was primarily operational between 1904 and the late 1960s and it attracted descriptions as the "ghost road of the Drovers" and the "death track". It was used as an entry point to the Barkly Tableland and it is nearby to Wave Hill, Auvergne and Victoria River Downs Stations. It is on the lands of the Mudburra and Djingili peoples and their rights to this land has been established by the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and the Native Title Act 1993. Use of the track declined from 1966 when the Buchanan Highway was completed and it is now rarely used as a stock route and is now an unsealed road. It is 644 km long.

History The land surrounding the Murranji Track was first explored by Europeans by John McDouall Stuart who found it impenetrable and it was first used as a track by pastoralist and drover Nat Buchanan in 1886 when taking cattle to The Kimberleys (Western Australia). Buchanan travelled alongside Gordon Buchanan, "Greenhide" Sam Croker, Willie Glass, Archie Ferguson and Mick Berry. Their journey was successful as they were led through by a Mudburra guide, who showed them where to find water, and the name "Murranji" comes from the name for a species of burrowing frog in the Mudburra language. Use of the track was limited until, in 1904, one of Sidney Kidman's drover's, Blake Miller used it and it became a popular shortcut; despite this at least 11 drovers are known to have died along its route. It was notoriously difficult to transport stock on this track because of the lack of waterholes, with dry stages of up to 180 km, dense scrub (thorny lancewood and bullwaddy) and limestone soil. When moving cattle the limestone soil had the effect of making a drumming sound; this often spooked cattle. The main water sources were soakages named the Bucket (Wirntirrkuji), the Murranji and Yellow Waterhole (Binjacootra). The Bucket was named for an iron bucket left there by Buchanan. Ernestine Hill wrote about the history and development of the track for Walkabout (magazine) in 1949. Major improvements were made to the track during World War II with government bores being built and bulldozers being used to smooth the road; writing about these improvements Hilda Abbott said "since then the cattle have walked like gentlemen through wide, scrub-bordered boulevards". Abbott also said of the track more generally:

Just after the "Wet" the Murranji is magic. It lies in the southern fringe of the jungle country winding through close forests of tall straight lancewoods. Bulwaddi trees with gnarled branches and spindly dark foliage are sombre and savage looking but the bloodwoods will be in bloom, each creamy blossom holding a globule of honey. One of the most famous trips on the Murranji Track was by Edna Zingenbine in 1950 who was the first female "Boss Drover" and made headlines throughout Australia. In the 1950s it was also frequently travelled by Bill Tapp who established a droving business which used it regularly. It was also travelled by Ellen Kettle in 1962 as pictured above.

Graffiti The tanks along the Murranji Track are also home to a significant collection of graffiti, these date from the late 1930s to the 1960s and are a unique form of documentation along the track. All of these messages are faded and some have completely disappeared but many still survive. The graffiti primarily consists of messages, insults, poems, laments and drawings of the Murranji drovers. There are also a number of signatures including one by Owen Cummins the "Territory's own man from Snowy River". The remaining drawings were photographed and traced onto plastic sheets by archaeologist and historian Darrell Lewis. The graffiti have been replicated in Lewis' detailed history of the track in The Murranji track: ghost road of the drovers (2007).

Resources about Lewis, Darrell (2007). The Murranji track: ghost road of the drovers. Rockhampton, QLD CQU Press. Australia. Office of the Aboriginal Land Commissioner & Kearney, William & Australia. Department of Aboriginal Affairs & Northern Territory. Administrator & Australia. (1987). Murranji land claim.

Notable drovers on the Track Beetaloo Jangari Bill Nathaniel Buchanan Sam Croker Owen Cummins William Linklater Edna Zigenbine

Coordinates The Track begins at Murrunji, nearby the Queensland border: 17.009229°S 133.136645°E / -17.009229; 133.136645 (Murranji) A midway point is the Murranji Bore: 16.836831°S 132.804032°E / -16.836831; 132.804032 (Murranji Bore) It ends at Peak Knob: 16.67165°S 132.11774°E / -16.67165; 132.11774 (Peak Knob) Map

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Murranji Track

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Murranji Track claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Murranji Track before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Murranji Track ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Murranji Track

In research: Murranji Track appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Murranji Track in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Murranji Track is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Australian outback tracks, Historic trails and roads in Australia, Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Murranji Track outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Murranji Track in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Murranji Track means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Murranji Track out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Murranji Track in simple terms?

Why does Murranji Track matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Murranji Track?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Murranji Track.