One Road: Canning Stock Route Project

One Road: Canning Stock Route Project app takes users on a journey through the remote deserts of Western Australia. Part rich cultural resource, part travel guide, One Road is an interactive map spanning the 2000km Canning Stock Route, which was surveyed between 1906 and 1910 to transport cattle to the south during the first of the state’s mining booms.

One Road tells the story of a pioneering track that cut a line through three deserts and irrevocably changed the lives and destinies of the Aboriginal people whose Country it transected. Itexplores the hidden connections between people, Country, culture and history along the world’s longest, and reputedly most dangerous, historic cattle route.

Told from the perspectives of Aboriginal contributors and historical figures, One Road captures a story of exploration, first contact, conflict, diaspora, droving, culture, Country and family and the development of an art movement that has taken the world by storm.

Features include:

- A scale-able hand-drawn historic map of the stock route by surveyor Alfred Canning and detailed notes relating to wells and land features.

- Interchangeable aerial view of the route.

- Essential information for 4WD travellers about first aid, permits, camping, restricted areas, vehicle preparation and cultural protocols.

- Over 100 images of paintings from the Canning Stock Route collection, acquired by the National Museum of Australia as a ‘national treasure’, with accompanying stories and diagrams.

- 160 videos located along the route documenting historical accounts of life in the desert and the droving era; traditional hunting practises, Dreaming stories, the stock route wells and contemporary life in communities.

- Hundreds of text, image and video-based stories documenting the extraordinary events that have occurred along the route since 1906, drawn from archival research and oral histories.

- Stories of the Aboriginal guides who led Alfred Canning’s 1906 survey team to the waters that would became the stock route wells, sourced from a 1908 royal commission.

- Information about Aboriginal languages spoken in the stock route region and a dictionary of essential words.

- 3D animations of Australian wildlife and ancestral beings including knob tailed geckos, thorny devils, ants, and the sacred ancestral rainbow serpent.

- Information about each of the stock route wells, including water condition, drinking quality and native title region.

- Information about the Aboriginal art centres involved in the Canning Stock Route Project and contact details for purchasing ethical contemporary art.

- Links to the Mira Canning Stock Route Project archive for those who want to delve deeper into the content.

One Road is an outcome of the Canning Stock Route Project, which has been run by Western Australian not-for-profit cultural hub FORM since 2006. One Road is based on the internationally award-winning multimedia display, which was a feature of Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route the blockbuster art and social history exhibitionco-producedbyFORM and the National Museum of Australia. The app is based on its internationally award-winning multimedia display (Silver, MUSE Awards 2011) and now features an extensive range of new content for travellers and 4WD enthusiasts, art lovers, history and culture buffs, teachers and students.

Download to make a difference:

All sales of the One Road app benefit participating Aboriginal artists and art centres with 90% of all profits returning to the eight participating art centres.