Guide to Newcastle Waters Northern Territory Australia

The Newcastle Waters township, located 269 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, is part of a large, historic cattle station in the Barkly Tablelands. Economically dependent on droving in the early 1900s, the arrival of road trains in the 1960s reduced it to a virtual ghost town. The National Trust’s Jones’ Store, built in 1934, has been preserved as a museum. The explorer John McDouall Stuart reached the area in 1861 and described the river running north from Lake Woods as ‘the most splendid reach of water’. He named it after the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary for the Colonies. Stuart established a base camp near the present site of the station. The small township grew until the Junction Hotel served its last beer in 1960 and the remaining buildings are a testament to the era. The remains of the pub, the museum and the Drover’s Memorial Park (featuring a bronze statue of a drover) allow travellers to step back in time and gain insight into life in the outback.