Denis Bartell, a seasoned Australian explorer, had already crossed the Simpson Desert more than 30 times in four‑wheel‑drive vehicles before deciding to tackle it on foot. He spent months poring over the journals of John McDouall Stuart, Burke and Wills, and David Lindsay to understand the motivations of those who dared the interior.
On 12 March 1984, Bartell began a three‑week solo march from the western edge of the desert to its eastern terminus, covering 390 km without any backup vehicles. The path wound through dunes that had once hosted the wells of Indigenous peoples, which he later rediscovered and relied on when he lost his bearings in 1985.
The trek proved a proving ground for Bartell’s next ambition: a 2,500‑km Gulf‑to‑Gulf Odyssey that would take him from Burketown on the Gulf of Carpentaria to Adelaide. He departed on 7 May 1985, traversing the desert again, and reached Glenelg Jetty on 15 September, completing the journey in five and a half months.
Bartell’s fascination with the legacy of early explorers drove him to walk into the very heart of Australia’s red interior, echoing the footsteps of men who had once chased water in a land where only the bravest survive. His 1984 desert walk remains a testament to human endurance and historical curiosity.