A skeleton rail link already extended from the west to east coasts of Australia except for a 1996km gap between the Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta in South Australia. On 17 October 1917, in what was a remarkable surveying and engineering feat, two construction teams - one starting from Port Augusta and other from Kalgoorlie - met to complete the track. The teams joined the line at what is now known as the tiny South Australian siding of Ooldea on the Nullarbor Plain. This was the longest stretch of railway ever built as a single project in Australia, taking five years to complete. It was constructed using the most basic tools - pick and shovel, carthouse and camel.
