Elliott is a town on an ancient land, the Pre Cambrian Shield, this vast stable platform has meant that relatively little geological change has taken place compared to most other places on Earth. There have been three seperate seas, their sediment is the basis of the sandstone of the Ahburton Range that divides the Barkly Tablelands on the east from the Tanami to the west of the highway. The soils are generally very old, and infertile except for parts of the Barkly, where the ongoing pastoral heritage relies on those richer soils deposited from the retreating ancient seas.

Aboriginal people have been here since the Dreamtime, surviving on the native bush foods available. The spirit ancestors gave them rights and responsibilities for this region, over which they moved with little envonmental impact, farming the bush, studying the game hereabouts, and learning the stories of place and of lore. Newcastle creek and it’s headwaters are the country of the Jingili people. Nearby live the Wambaya, Yangman, Mangarrayi, Mudbara, Gurindji, Warlpiri, Warlmanpa, and Warramungu. Lake Woods and Woods Waterhole, were places of refuge in this dry land as well as the venue for meetings and ceremonies between the mobs. 
The first white man to visit the location of the future Elliott was John McDouall Stuart in 1861. It was not his first time in the future Northern Territory ( of South Australia), in 1860, he was forced back after a battle with local Aboriginals at Attack creek, that’s about 200km south of Elliott today. His third trip north was not to discover new pastoral areas but rather to establish a feasible route for the Overland Telegraph planned from Adelaide to northern Australia, which would then join the undersea cable crossing the Indian Ocean. It was Stuart who named Newcastle Waters after the Duke Of Newcastle, the Colonial Secretary in far off London. And it was here at Newcastle Waters, only 30 kilometres from Eliott that he turned south again, after four fruitless and exhausting trips north east and north west. On his return to Adelaide he learned that Burke and Wills had failed to return from their expedition. So. He began his fourth and final, and ultimately successful trip north. This time he discovered the waterholes that allowed his horses and men to get to Daly Waters from Newcastle Waters, then on to Mary River and then the sea. 

The rough route beside the new Telegraph line ( 1870-1872) was called “ The Track” and it guided men north, to look for gold, move stock, and then allowed entrepreneurs to set up pastoral leases along its length. In 1883, Newcastle Waters Station had its beginnings. Now Stuart had linked north and south, but little was known of the lands to the west and east of Newcastle Waters. The explorers Ernest Favenc and Nat Buchanan, rode into the Barkly and Tanami respectively. The Tanami was unsuitable for pastoralists but the Barkly was a possibility. Spin doctors of the time published glowing reports of this country. The Telegraph station at Powell Creek, 60 kilometres south of Elliott, was the connection to the world for this area. 

Overlanders regularly began moving stock, sheep and cattle, north using the reliable water holes of this area for their animals. Even though most were just passing through, there was still early conflict and deaths on both sides. But by 1885, Not only Newcastle Waters, but Brunette, Alexandria, Walhallow and Eva Downs stations were all established in the Barkly Tablelands. All of them still exist today, and you may visit them if you do the Barkly Run, our air plane ( RFDS) based clinics run about monthly.

Eliott is famous for being at the junction of two of the most famous stock routes, the Murranji track from the northwest , and the Barkly track which takes off just south of Elliott. Then as now, it was the availability of water which permitted a station to be established and allowed stock to travel thousands of kilometres. These routes were often desperate affairs, with scurvy and disease, death from injury, and dehydration. The Murranji track was the most brutal of all Australian stock routes, with waterless intervals of up to 115 miles! There is a terrific book on this track by Darrell Lewis that is well worth reading. Many Aboriginal men became legends on these stock routes, and their descendants still live in the Elliott community.
Newcastle Waters became the hub for many great stock routes and was a community long before Elliot or indeed even before the Stuart Highway (1943) was built. You can drive out to see the old buildings at Marlinja ( the settlement adjacent to Newcastle Waters station) and walk through the old pub ( Jones Hotel). Don’t  forget to check out the old petrol station and houses. It’s a fascinating study but the town withered and died as a commercial hub with the foundation of Elliott 35 kilometres south. The station still exists as does a small Aboriginal community called Marlinja. 

In 1940, War had come to Australia, Darwin was bombed, Japanese soldiers had captured the impregnable Singapore, and were moving south at a blistering speed. It was a military imperative that Darwin with its access to Indonesia, New Guinea and South East Asia, be accessible not just only by water (a route  too vulnerable to submarines and air attack) but by land. A highway was needed. The main roads only went to Alice Springs from Southern Australia. American Engineers built a Northern road in a matter of months. It was described as having an “all weather “ surface. Now there was access north but towns were needed along the way. Then in 1942, it rained, and rained, the “ all weather Road” was now 1500 kilometres of impassable quagmire. The road had to be sealed properly. By October 1943, the road was indeed sealed and all the way from Alice Springs to Darwin. Goods and personnel could be moved by rail to the Alice then to Larimah ( the nearest railhead) , then by truck from there, all the way to Darwin. Convoys of troops and supplies all stopped at Elliott. Every effort was made to make it a comfortable stop off. Soldiers could visit a cinema, go for a swim at Woods Waterhole, enjoy fresh meats and vegetables grown in Elliott or from one of the huge vegetable and fruit gardens established along the Stuart. Actually, it was not called Elliott then, it was called Number 8 bore. 

In 1941, Lord Gowrie, the Governor General at the time, was so impressed with the courtesies extended to him and indeed all the soldiers who stayed at number 8 bore by Captain Robert Elliott, that he decided the camp be called Elliott after his host. Captain Robert ( Snow) Elliott ran the camp for the war years and later was involved in rehabilitating returning prisoners of war. He gained a MBE for his efforts as early as 1942. He died tragically only a few years later.

Elliott had the Highway, the facilities, and it was inevitable the township at Newcastle Waters suffered. The drovers were gone by the 1950s, the stock routes now were rarely used as fast road transports ( 1949) thundered along the roads to the eastern markets. They no longer needed a pub at Newcastle Waters. Elliott had businesses and hotels for the passing trade, and to service the the many stations located “near” the town before reliable air travel.
In the first of May, 1966 things suddenly all changed. 19 Aboriginal workers on Newcastle Waters went on strike over pay and conditions, it was the first of the “ walk offs” that took place all over central and northern Australia. A hundred Aboriginal people moved onto land adjacent to Elliott, and set up camp. Wave hill is the most famous walk off but Newcastle Waters was the very first. Other Aboriginal people from seven other stations joined the original settlers in the camps. North camp and later South Camp were here to stay. Diverse tribes were thrown together by circumstance into camps and western style houses. Tribes that had rarely worked or lived together now had to do so, and it’s not always been easy.
 Until 1966 for the previous eighty years, stock had run wild, and it was Aboriginal musterers who gathered them together before passing them onto drovers. The musterers lived man and boy at the stations, and their families and dependents formed camps on the outskirts of the stations. Living conditions are described by present day historians as “appalling”. They scavenged offal for food, money was merely credit in the stations store and by the end of the year, there was nothing left. Even industrial awards as late as 1953 permitted lower rates of pay to an Aboriginal worker and many were not paid at all. An outcry from southern unions, lead to an epic decision to make equal pay for equal work, binding on all employers even the station owners. Then what set off the strike was that under pressure, the court ruled that the law would not come into affect for nearly three more years. Australia had to wake up to its somnolent racism in the 1960s and Elliott was a flashpoint.

This is merely the background of Elliott. I have used a beautifully presented book called “ the middle of everywhere” by Peter and Sheila Forrest which I can recommend. Another fine book is “Jones Store” written by a descendent of the hotels founder, his grandson, Peter Jones. This fine hardback book is all about the settlement at and around Newcastle Waters. 

Have a walk around while you here, and see the relics and memorials of WW2, visit the Golf course, and relax in the park. It’s a place with ongoing challenges surrounding work, education and health and is not immune to any of the problems affecting Australia including drugs, domestic violence and alcohol abuse but on the other hand you will meet many wonderful people here with generous smiles and abundant kindness. I’m sure you will enjoy your stay.

Imagine a primeval landscape, a forest all around you, but the trees are not the eucalypts and flowering plants of today but instead you are painfully brushing away the stiff fronds of brilliant green cycads, while ramrod straight palms tower over you and then suddenly there is the roar of a T REX. If you can picture this, you can pretty well visualise the scenery of Palm Valley. 
Mark of Sandrifter Safaris collected us at 6:45 this morning from outside our townhouse. The new moon was low in the pre dawn sky. It was chilly as we waited just off the road. Our first stop was on Larapinta drive, just as the sun rose over the gap, and the range before us immediately lit up into brilliant orange. While watching, we all enjoyed munching a fried egg and bacon rolls with some Australia Afternoon tea steaming away in our metal mugs. Yummy. Then we were on our way to Palm Valley. It’s about 120km from Alice and most of the trip is on bitumen but the last bit is a challenging 4WD including climbing over boulders, sand and river beds. There is precious little water around now but the Finke River is still very impressive. Firstly it’s wide, wider than the Sandover. Mmmm perhaps that doesn’t help. At least a 100 meters wide with immense red river gums scattered in the river bed. We cross confidently if not easily tailing briefly in sand before climbing up and out. The Land driver is a terrific car, comfortable, good take off angles, and air suspension which produces a prolonged fart when the car is stopped after a bumpy section.
We turn off from the road adjacent to the Finke , now along the road beside Palm Creek. There are some wonderful views to be had and we frequently pulled over to take photographs of the hills and river below us. The creek has carved out the granite, sandstone of this area into weird formations of abrupt stone, they stand stark and orange in the morning light. 

Mark dropped us of to walk along the beautiful Cycad Gorge. It is a space, silent and still, the cycads visible on the rock face. Pillars and immense blocks of rock, had split out from the cliff and lay shattered on the valley floor. 

We arrived at the parking area situated at Palm Creek.. There are four walks we could choose from. We opted for a five kilometre walk that went up onto the escarpment, along the cliff with views into Palm Creek , then turning southwards across the plateau, then dropping down along a narrow rocky track back down to the creek bed. We followed this circuit track with Mark, chatting as we do about all sorts of things. By now it was warmer so we had tucked away our jumpers as we walked along. It is a very beautiful walk but with slight squinting and a liberal dose of imagination, you can almost hear the dinosaurs that walked this same area, between the same species of palms and cycads we are seeing right now. The creek bed is rocky not sandy or of loose stone, it’s granite and then sandstone, the fine beds are twisted or more accurately tortured into swirls and folds by the geological forces that have made this place. Yet despite all this geological tom foolery, the Finke River and Palm Creek have had unaltered courses for 190 million years, simply eroding the rocks and even mountains that had the cheek to appear. 
After our walk we had a splendid lunch, sitting on the rock, smoothed by eons of water and tumbling stones, we each had a wrap of corn beef and salad, followed by carrot cake and monster strawberries. Above us, the palm trees, livistonias, shimmered in the sunlight. Magic.
After lunch, we drove back to the main highway, turning off to Owen Springs. This is a fascinating relic of early NT history and business enterprise. First built in 1869, it was the first homestead built in Central Australia. Early explorers had fired up the imagination of some men to become pastoralists. Gilbert built a timber structure on the Hugh River, just north of Laurence Gorge, and grew wheat on the rangelands hereabouts. He had three wonderful years, glowing reports from explorers such as Giles, seemed confirmed by the rain and resulting crops. Then ten years of drought. This was not a successful venture so the property was sold  to Thomas Elder. Yep, Elder of Real Estate fame. But is wasn’t real estate Elder was primarily interested in, it was transport. The Ghan train connected Port Augusta to Oodnadatta by 1891 but would not be extended to Alice Springs until 1929. So for nearly thirty years, here was  a situation when transport was up for grabs between Oodnadatta and virtually everywhere in the centre. The government was encouraging entrepreneurs to enter the field. South Australia still had a lot of camels left over from the ones used to explore the centre. Elder put it together, and bought a vast number of camels and used his properties to service transport needs. The camel trains went from Oodnadatta to Curtin Springs to Owen Springs, then on to Stuart ( Stuart was the name of nowadays Alice Springs until 1939)’ then everywhere else including Hermannsburg and Arltunga. There was absolutely no connection between Darwin and Alice till 1942 when American military Engineers constructed the modern extension of the Stuart Highway northwards for the relief of Darwin. 

Owen springs passed to various owners, including Kidman for a time, until in 1999, the property was acquired by the NT government. Though it was a ruin, it’s roof long gone, it remained of great interest to history buffs, and so by 2002, it was repaired and its walls resurfaced to protect them. And so it stands today, with the Hugh River behind it, and the range terminating briefly at Laurence Gorge. This route pioneered by McDouall Stuart, remained the main path for not only Elder and his camel trains, but motor cars beginning the journey in 1929. And in 1957, the first tourist bus to Alice Springs. This route to Alice via Owen Springs continued until the construction of the current Stuart highway.
Elders camels were instrumental in supplying the construction equipment and supplies for the original old Ghan railway. It was only in 1929 that the Ghan finally was extended to Alice Springs ( then Stuart…. Confusing isn’t it). The camels were also used for building the overland telegraph. No wonder Elder grew wealthy from his transport empire.  

After our exploration of the old homestead, we carried along the Owen Springs road all the way to Stuart Highway, then back to Alice. What a fabulous day, full of history, nature, landscapes and great company.