Eyre Highway

Eyre Highway is a 1660km highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first European to cross the Nullarbor by land, in 1840–1841. Eyre Highway runs from Norseman in Western Australia, past Eucla, to the state border. Continuing to the South Australian town of Ceduna, it then crosses the top of the Eyre Peninsula before reaching the city of Port Augusta in South Australia.The construction of the East–West Telegraph line in the 1870s, along Eyre's route, resulted in a hazardous trail that could be followed for interstate travel. A national highway was called for, but the federal government did not see the route as important enough until 1941, when a war in the Pacific seemed imminent. The highway was constructed between July 1941 and June 1942, but was trafficable by January 1942. Though originally named Forrest Highway, after John Forrest, by the war cabinet, it was officially named and gazetted Eyre Highway, a name agreed upon by the states' nomenclature committees.