Tennant Creek Tourist Information
Tennant Creek Tourist Information
To the South of Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
As you travel south, just out of town, you'll find the Tennant Creek Cemetery, resting place of many pioneers. Plaques on the headstones and ornamental gate tell the story of battles with the elements and the joy and tragedy of days gone past.
Bonney Well, 87 kilometres south of Tennant was named by Stuart and the stone dump was built in 1892 when horses and camels were used to raise and lower buckets. To the east is the turnoff to the proposed Davenport Ranges National Park.
The famous Devils Marbles one of the most significant geological features in the Northern Territory, are 104 kilometres south of Tennant and span the highway covering a wide shallow valley. According to Aboriginal dreaming, these sacred and mystical rocks are the fossilised eggs of the mystical Rainbow Serpent. The hundreds of huge rounded boulders, balanced precariously one on top of the other, varying in size from half a metre to over six metres, owe their shape to millions of years of erosion. They're spectacular at any time of the day but more particularly at sunrise and sunset. You may take a walk along the interpreted path, simply clamber amongst the Marbles or take a tour from Tennant Creek.
Wauchope, with its old pub, is a good place to cool off, have a party, meet the locals or join in one of the unsusual events held there, such as the Wimbeldon at Wauchope tennis match on antbed courts! The Pub was built in 1938 to service the needs of the Wolfram Mines. Situated 114kms south of Tennant Creek, Wauchope is also the stepping off point for the Marbles only 5 minutes away.
Further south there's Wycliffe Well with its native animals and Mount Wycliffe lookout. UFOs have been sighted here and numerous press cuttings on display in the roadhouse tell of the sightings. On to Barrow Creek, which John McDouall Stuart named after John Henry Barrow, a parliamentarian from 1858 and founder of The Advertiser newspaper in South Australia. The Overland Telegraph Station can be viewed by arrangement with the hotel owners.
