Today I visited the little town of Woomera in South Australia. Growing up it was known as Woomera Rocket Range as this is where they tested rockets and missiles.

I’m the blue dot on the map, camped on the shores of Lake Hart (more about that another day) and the red marker is Woomera. I’ve included the second map to show you it is really situated in the desert!

The Woomera testing range covers a vast 270,000square kilometres and extends all the way into Western Australia but it’s glory days are behind it as it sits as a lonely outstation for the defence force and an interesting tourist attraction – particularly if you’re in to rockets 🚀

Woomera got its name from the Aboriginal throwing stick which was a launching pad for their spear.

The museum was well laid out and there was also a street display of the larger rockets, missiles and aircraft.

Woomera is only 6 or 7 kms off the Stuart Highway at Pimba and well worth the detour. In the last few days it celebrated its 75th Anniversary and I met a fellow who had gone to high school there and had returned for the reunion. He told me had caught up with a lot of old mates and in typical Aussie fashion he said “Big weekend! 75 years … and 75 cartons later I’m ready to go home!”