Tennant Creek

After traveling the sealed Stuart Hwy some 508 klms, through sparsely populated red desert sands we arrived Tennant Creek. It got its name from explorer John McDougal Stuart in 1860's, who named a creek north of town, in gratitude, after the financier of his trip John Tennant. It has population of 1000 (50%) regard themselves as Aboriginal. After finding a caravan park outside of town (it seemed safer) we set up camp. The only reason I say it seemed safer, is that upon arriving in town, we noticed many of the shop fronts were boarded up or had safety screens on them. We headed over to the camp kitchen for drinks and entertainment. We were entertained by a fire breathing and twirling dancer. She was of considerable age but very fit. She spent her time traveling between Melbourne and Darwin, putting on her show, for a small fee and free site fees. She was a very free spirited lady. We checked out the Battery Hill mine and to our surprise it was a gold mine but not of the usual kind. The gold is extracted by crushing the black bauxite. We also visited the old Telegraph station.Read more