Qualla: Colson Track

Colson Track: Introduction

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Some roads are barely roads at all. The Colson Track is two faint wheel ruts pressed into red sand, running 336 kilometres through the western Simpson Desert, and after a season of rain or a stretch of long grass it can vanish entirely, leaving a driver to navigate by instinct and dune. It bears the name of Ted Colson, the South Australian bushman who in 1936 became the first person of European descent to cross the Simpson Desert. But Colson did not cross alone, and the fuller story belongs to two men and five camels.

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Colson Track: The Crossing of 1936

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By the time Colson set out, the Simpson had defeated better-funded expeditions. Charles Sturt had turned back from its margins; others had failed to push through the relentless ranks of parallel dunes. Colson waited for good rain, then on 26 May 1936 he left Bloods Creek, north-w...

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Colson Track: A Line Between Two Stations

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The track that carries Colson's name does not retrace his exact route; it is a later thread of access through the same unforgiving country. Its northern end is marked only by a sign near the boundary of Numery Station, in Hale, Northern Territory. From there it runs south for 336...

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Colson Track: Reading the Ruts

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Travelling the Colson Track is an exercise in attention. The surface is mostly soft red sand, often badly corrugated, and the route should be attempted only in a high-clearance four-wheel drive carrying its own fuel, water and recovery gear. The ruts that define it are easily los...

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Colson Track: The Weight of a Name

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

It would be easy to read the Colson Track as a monument to one tough European and leave it there. The truer reading holds two men in frame. Ted Colson earned his place in the story through grit and bushcraft, but his crossing succeeded because Peter Ains travelled with him, and b...

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