Ongoing Birdsville Track closure hits outback businesses
One of Australia's most iconic outback roads has been closed for 400 days out of the past two years due to rain damage, with remote businesses feeling the pinch.
Stretching more than 500 kilometres, the Birdsville Track connects Birdsville in south-west Queensland, to Marree in far-north South Australia.
It provides access to local pastoral properties to move cattle, allows stock to flow to the South Australian market and has become increasingly popular with outback tourists.
The track is largely unsealed, meaning flooding and heavy rain have periodically closed the track over the years — but never for this long.
Despite the challenges, Lyall Oldfield is "very happy" living in the outback. (Supplied: Marree Roadhouse)
Marree Roadhouse owner Lyall Oldfield said his business was "probably one third of what it normally is".
"My family [has] been here since 1934 and it's never ever happened that the Birdsville Track has been closed any longer than a month,"
he said.
"It's just dreadful what's happening with the roads. It's not even a joke."
Business at the Marree Roadhouse is one third of what it normally is. (Supplied: Marree Roadhouse)
Bad for business
About 230km north of Marree is the Mungerannie Hotel, which was taken over by new owners in 2023.
Three years later, the business has not opened all year, with road closures stopping the daily water deliveries it relies on.
Cattle coming off Clifton Hills Station on the Birdsville Track in South Australia after flooding. (Supplied: Pete Nunn)
Co-owner Andrew Norman said it was a similar tale in 2025, when there was "no sort of season whatsoever".
"Last year we thought it was devastating, but we didn't know this year was coming,"
he said.
Mr Norman said the closure north of Mungeranie is having the biggest impact, deterring tourists from making the trip.
The Birdsville Track has sustained significant damage from rain events. (Supplied: Department for Infrastructure and Transport)
"Nobody's really coming up to Mungeranie to turn around and go back," Mr Norman said.
"If they can get that road open just north of us and get the Birdsville Track open, next year should be fine.
"If the track is open, we'll be open. But without a track, we're not open."
Long road ahead
The SA Department for Infrastructure and Transport hoped to reopen the 200km section between Marree and Mungeranie "next week", but the route north of Mungeranie is expected to remain closed for some time.
Large parts of the Birdsville Track remain underwater. (Supplied: Department of Infrastructure and Transport)
Regional north and outback road maintenance manager Juanita Chester said with some northern parts of the Birdsville Track still underwater, it would be "several more months before [the department] can even consider reopening".
"When you're thinking of over a kilometre of road that is underwater, there's a significant amount of material that we'd have to cart in to put on that road to build it up enough to allow traffic to go through,"
she said.
While the construction of a single-lane access route has been considered, Ms Chester said the local pits where materials are sourced have flooded too.
The track has sustained damage from several significant rain events in the past 24 months. (Supplied: Department for Infrastructure and Transport)
"They're like a dam when it rains, they fill with water," she said.
"If we can't get in there to get material, there's very little we can do short of carting material from a long, long way away, which then impacts the roads."
The department is assessing the scope and price of the remaining work, which will then require approval before it can begin, and Ms Chester said this would be unlikely in the next two months.
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