Woomera Rocket Range
A vast, arid aerospace testing range situated in the South Australian outback. Renowned as the southern hemisphere's foremost space tracking facility, which famously looked straight through the Vogon Constructor Fleet on the Thursday Earth was demolished.
Point of Interest Dossier: Woomera Rocket Range
"The planet beneath them was almost perfectly oblivious of their presence, which was just how they wanted it for the moment. The huge yellow somethings went unnoticed at Goonhilly, they passed over Cape Canaveral without a blip, Woomera and Jodrell Bank looked straight through them — which was a pity because it was exactly the sort of thing they'd been looking for all these years."
— The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 3
Overview & Desert Terrain
Sprawling over an astonishing one hundred and twenty-two thousand square kilometres of harsh, sun-baked red desert in the Far North region of South Australia on planet Earth (Sol III), Woomera Rocket Range was the largest land-based weapons testing and aerospace range in the terrestrial world.
The territory was characterized by endless plains of red gibber stones, shimmering salt pans, scrubby saltbush, and thermal mirages that made optical tracking cameras register double horizons. In galactic survival handbooks, Woomera is noted as one of the few places on Earth where the indigenous wildlife (including red kangaroos, venomous brown snakes, and wedge-tailed eagles) could reliably intimidate an off-duty Betelgeusian field researcher.
The Commonwealth Triad
Named after the indigenous Dharug spear-thrower device that imparts tremendous kinetic energy to a missile, Woomera operated under joint British and Australian administration:
- The Southern Anchor: Along with Jodrell Bank in Cheshire and Goonhilly on the Lizard Peninsula, Woomera formed the famous Commonwealth Space Tracking Triad, ensuring that scientists could monitor artificial satellites regardless of which hemisphere faced the stars.
- Blue Streak & Skylark: Woomera hosted hundreds of early upper-atmosphere rocket launches, testing the British Blue Streak medium-range ballistic missile and the Europa satellite launch vehicle.
Looking Straight Through the Vogons
On the final Thursday of Earth's existence, as several dozen huge yellow chunky slablike Vogon Constructor Ships soared quietly through the ionosphere basking in electromagnetic rays from Sol:
- Looking Straight Through Them: In the novel's definitive chronicle, Woomera and Jodrell Bank looked straight through them, while the fleet went unnoticed at Goonhilly and passed over Cape Canaveral without a blip—"which was a pity because it was exactly the sort of thing they'd been looking for all these years."
- The Sole Detection: The only instrument on the planet that registered their presence at all was the small black Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic winking quietly inside Ford Prefect's leather satchel.
- Alternate Radio-Series Account: (In the earlier Primary Radio Series Fit the First broadcasts, Woomera, Jodrell Bank, and Goonhilly Downs were credited with briefly detecting the fleet on radar shortly before planetary demolition.)
Hitchhiker Navigation Advisory
According to the Guide's section on Southern Hemisphere hitchhiking:
- Towel Preparedness: In environments like Woomera, soaking one's Massively Useful Towel in bore water and draping it over the brow is essential for preventing severe solar delirium.
- Local Etiquette: When confronted by outback locals inquiring as to your business, answering that you are an out-of-work actor from Guildford works just as well in South Australia as it does in Surrey, provided you don't refuse a cold can of Victoria Bitter.