15/9/08
Tennant Creek was named by John McDouall Stuart, an explorer who visited the creek in 1860. He named the area after his sponsor John Tennant. The Stuart Highway also known as the “Explorer’s Way” and running from Darwin to Port Augusta is named after John McDouall Stuart. This was the path he followed on his epic journey. The discovery of gold, followed by copper, silver, tin, mica and tungsten, make the area the NT’s leading mineral production center, just a bit of history for you.
Consequently, our time in Tennant Creek wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to the Battery Hill Mining Centre.
The opportunity to take a tour underground was very exciting for the kids. Not as exciting for the parents holding the wriggly one year old, who was about as interested in the mine as she was about keeping the hard hat on.
The mine tour however was also bribery and corruption to lift the morale of those who were disinterested in the Tennant Creek Telegraph Station.
The construction of the Telegraph Station on the Overland Telegraph line in 1872, was the first site of settlement in Tennant Creek. It was so sparse and felt so remote, even though we’d driven there and people were around. One can only imagine how isolated it felt in 1872.
