Woomera is a strange little outback town with a huge backstory. It was built for the Anglo-Australian rocket and weapons program, and the surrounding Woomera Prohibited Area remains one of the largest land-based test ranges in the western world.
For travelers, the appeal is concentrated and odd: missile and aircraft displays in the centre of town, a heritage centre, a small history museum, Cold War-era buildings, and a desert observatory that opens when volunteers and skies line up. It is not a place to linger for days, but it is far more than a fuel stop on the road north.
Woomera works best if you are already driving between Port Augusta, Roxby Downs, and Coober Pedy. Give it a few hours, read the signs, and the emptiness around the village starts to feel less empty.