In 1940-41 the Commonwealth Government asked the NSW, Qld and SA road constructing authorities to build a light gravel road between the railheads of Alice Springs and Larrimah in the Northern Territory. This became the North-South Road. In 1942, increased military build-up required that the road be strengthened and their assistance was again sought. The CRB was commissioned to surface the road with bitumen and urgent arrangements were made to import three specialist Barber-Greene bituminous mixing plants from the United States for this work. The CRB also used machinery they had specifically developed in the 1930s for use in the technique of ‘spray bituminous road surfacing’. Some 250 men volunteered from Victoria to work on the road plants and the Allied Works Council and the Civil Constructional Corps provided additional men to expedite progress and allocate the additional machinery required. Each plant required a gang of 150 men to keep it supplied with screenings and working efficiently and its rate of progress was as much as 2 miles per day. Further assistance was supplied by the Commonwealth Works Department and the Army Engineering Units that were stationed in the area because of the heavy maintenance required to keep the machinery operating. Over 600 different moving plant units were used to upgrade the North-South Road. Altogether a total of about 500 men were employed during the dry season. The CRB also carried out work for the Department of Civil Aviation, providing a bitumen surface for the Tennant Creek Civil Aerodrome and the RAAF as well as building aerodromes in the Katherine area. Supplementary machinery was supplied by the Allied Works Council.
This is a magazine that was produced by the Methodist Inland Mission in the 1940s.
