The Original Jupiter Well - WA

While every traveller in that desert knows of Len Beadell’s road team, few people have any idea of National Mapping’s work apart from the name on the maps that we often use. In 1960, Beadell's team had pushed the GJR to a point 100 km west of the Pollock Hills, the vicinity of the actual tree and plaque beside the current Gary Junction Road. This was where the grader suffered it's catastrophic gearbox failure and was still some 18 kilometers short of the current Jupiter Well site. Len did not return to the site until 1962.


The original Jupiter Well was dug in 1961 by a National Mapping survey team charged to recce, mark and observe a traverse in Western Australia from Mount Tietkens to the Canning Stock Route in the vicinity of Well 35, as part of the geodetic survey of Australia. To avoid the need to truck water 480 km from Mt Liebig, the team spent four days between the 20th to 24th August 1961 digging the well. The well was named after the planet reflected in the waters at the bottom of the well late on the night of the 22nd.