Spotlight: Daly Waters Pub, NT

Located approximately 600km south of Darwin and 900km north of Alice Springs, Daly Waters Pub is a Stuart Highway (NT) oddity where travellers meet on a daily basis. It's odd because Daly Waters has been a meeting place since before European contact and yet it has never been on the main track.

Like many iconic Outback pubs, the décor is a little strange and an attraction in itself, plus spend any time there and you’re likely to meet a few dinkum characters. The pub was sold recently but don’t expect the new owners to make many changes to what has been a winning recipe for passers-by…

Long history

The area is the traditional country of the semi-nomadic Yangman Aboriginal people who built "whirlies":  timber frames thatched with grass and described as being like old-fashioned English beehives. The people adapted well to a harsh environment, and during the dry they would gather at the more reliable water holes.

Daly Waters was named in 1862 after Sir Dominic Daly, Governor of SA by John McDouall Stuart on his third and successful attempt to cross Australia from south to north. Stuart found his first water here after breaking through dense scrub that had defeated him previously. The north-south telegraph line was constructed following Stuart's route.

When the Durack brothers took their cattle from Queensland to WA they used the water holes as a landmark and stopping place. In those days it became a drovers' rest for stores and a night out before tackling the next leg of the drove. It was a meeting place for east-west drovers and north-south telegraph linesmen.

Construction of the telegraph line fell behind schedule. When it reached here (June 1872) from the north it had come only as far as Tennant Creek from the south.

The SA Government faced being charged a daily "gate" until completion (August 1872), so the pony express began. Messages were tapped out to Daly Waters and a rider took them 420km to Tennant Creek where they were tapped on to Adelaide.

This remote telegraph outpost became the saviour of the early WA explorer Sir Alexander Forrest while he was searching for a missing fellow explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt. Out of water and 300km west Forrest volunteered to go on and find a supply. He came upon the line, following it 60km to Daly Waters. Men went out with supplies to bring in the sick until they were able to continue their search.

The nearby Daly Waters Airstrip (which you can still visit today) was used in 1934 for the London to Sydney air race. It was a bomber command in WWII with bombers and a fighter squadron stationed there. During the war it was used as a re-fuelling base for overseas aircraft until the advent of long-range jets made local re-fuelling unnecessary.

Therefore in 1942 the Daly Waters Pub was constructed at the junction of the old stock route and the telegraph line, not on the Stuart Highway.

Popular stop-off

We arrived around lunch time to an almost deserted camping area. Maybe people don't turn off the highway anymore, we thought. Wrong! By late afternoon there was scarcely a spot to drop a swag.

Even today it's a daily meeting place - not for drovers or linesman but for travellers. But by 10am the next day it was deserted - what draws people to meet, greet and scoot?

The pub, a typical outback corrugated iron, rock and concrete structure with a horse trough and hitching rail outside, has changed little since construction. The outhouses, long drop style, are corrugated iron with outback lingo signage.

In the pub there's a display of old telegraph equipment, bellows organ and antique farm implements. Added to the walls by visitors are odds and ends like coins, number plates, banners, stickers and ladies' underwear strung from the ceiling.

Also through the ceiling is a pair of legs with a bottle of rum alongside - strange that it's taken a long time to get through that bottle! Outside is a covered meals and entertainment area. Or you can entertain yourself by playing pool, the jukebox or the piano, or take a dip in the swimming pool.

On the opposite side of the street are a couple of houses occupied by colourful locals, containing museums. Next is the Outback Servo and, when we were there, in a gypsy-style covered wagon a semi-permanent character, Frank Turton, flogged his craft and advertised his famous wedge tailed eagle show.

We swapped yarns with travellers in rigs worth more than a house and others in old panel vans, plus a lone Harley biker just cruising to get away from it all, and backpackers. The pub is a hangout for the local ringers, station staff and colourful residents. There’s also free nightly entertainment, with ‘Sam’s One Band’ playing the tunes the night we were there.

We left next day after a wonderfully bizarre time and would recommend all who travel the Stuart Highway to trek 4km to Daly Waters for something a bit different.

Daly Waters Pub is on Stuart St, ph (08) 8975 9927. Website: The Daly Waters Pub

Daly Waters Pub camping/caravan area is a 'first come, first served' deal. Park where you like near shade, power and water if needed. Showers and toilets are in prefab buildings, not flash, but kept very clean by friendly staff. Typical outback units are available.

Cabins with ensuite $105, rooms $75, sites with power $16 per person, sites without power $9 per person.