Duncan Road and Gordon Downs Road Upgrades

Duncan Road and Gordon Downs Road are the main links between Halls Creek and the Yaruman (Ringer Soak) community. They also provide access to cattle stations and the Browns Range Rare Earths Project.

Upgrades include improving the road quality and drainage, sealing some sections and constructing and sealing floodways to help reduce road closures during the wet season and provide better access to the Yaruman Community.

The project is being directly managed by Main Roads in partnership with the Shire of Halls Creek.

 Gordon Downs Road 

Completed work:

• Gravel sheeting of Gordon Downs Road
• Installed culverts at various floodways including near Yaruman community
• Sealed approaches to grids
• Constructed and sealed the 3.2 km Sturt Creek crossing floodway
• Sealed intersection of Browns Range Rare Earth Project access road and Gordon Downs Road
• Sealed approach into Yaruman community
• Rehabilitation of gravel pits

 Duncan Road

Current and planned work:

• Completion of geometry improvements through the hills section to improve line-of-sight
• Resheet and seal various high maintenance sections including jump ups
• Widening of concrete floodway at Old Town

Completed work:

• Reconstructed and resheeted 60km of gravel road on black soil plains, west of Gordon Down Road
• Installed culverts and sealed floodways including some major creeks such as Johnston river
• Installation of cattle grids and sealed approaches
• Widening of concrete floodway at Black Elvire River

• October 2019: Main Roads started on the project, using the Shire of Halls Creek historic clearances practices.

• Early-2020: We formed a partnership with the Shire and finalised a Heritage Protection Agreement (HPA).

• July 2020: A Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony was held by traditional Jaru owners at Sturt Creek. Attendees included representatives from the Shire of Halls Creek, Yaruman (Ringer Soak) Community and the project team.

• December 2020: Heritage surveys were cancelled due to wet weather.

• October/November 2021: Jaru family groups undertook heritage surveys providing the opportunity for traditional owners to discuss their areas of concern from a local Aboriginal perspective and provide feedback. Jaru traditional owners confirmed sensitive areas to avoid and highlighted the importance of rehabilitating materials sites. Input from traditional owners has been invaluable and will feed into finalising an improved design with better project outcomes.

• June 2022: Final Environmental approvals received for the Hills section of work and Heritage clearances obtained following consultation with the Jaru and Koongie Elvire Traditional Owners.

In July 2021, information sessions were held in Yaruman (Ringer Soak) community and Halls Creek to provide an update on the project and gather feedback. Read more in the Project Update.

Aboriginal opportunities

We are committed to creating opportunities for Aboriginal peoples and businesses with a 36 per cent employment rate on the project. We continue to collaborate with East Kimberley Job Pathways and Djaringo to provide training and support to take up project opportunities.

 Project Updates

• Project Update - July 2022 - PDF (872 KB)
• Project Update - July 2021 - PDF (1.92 MB)
• Project Update - November 2020 - PDF (929 KB)

 Funding

$51 million ($40.8 m Australian Government, $10.1 m State Government)