The track to the top end

By Gabrielle & William Beams

The Barkly Highway commences at Mt. Isa and stretches 631 kilometres to the mighty Stuart Highway, the road that is affectionately known by the locals as “The Track to the Top End”.

Once you leave Queensland, you cross the Barkly Tablelands, a desolated windswept, undulating plain, where many caravanners have come to grief because of the strong crosswinds. It is not unusual to see the shattered remains of caravans and trailers that litter the sides of the road. Prominent signs along the highway advise tourists of the treacherous winds.

The Avon Downs cattle station, 69 kilometres from the Queensland border, runs about 20,000 head of Santa Gertrudis on an area of 400,000 hectares. In the early 1900’s, sheep were predominately the animal of choice on these huge ranches, however the maintenance costs proved too high and now cattle roam these stations on the highway.

The Barkly Homestead Roadhouse is a welcome stop on the road. Situated at the junction of the Tablelands highway and the Barkly Highway, the roadhouse offers cool caravan sites as well as excellent food, drinks and fuel. These roadhouses provide valuable respite from the long distances which are travelled in this remote part of the Northern Territory.

185 kilometres further west is another pleasant roadhouse called the “Three Ways” because of its location on the Stuart Highway at the end of the Barkly Highway. The memorial to John Flynn, the Royal Flying Doctors pioneer, stands on the north side of the roadhouse. Large tracts of land at the back of the “Three Ways” have become an excellent caravan/camping facility and again food, drinks and fuel are available.

From “Three Ways” roadhouse, the Stuart Highway stretches 650 kilometres north to Katherine and then onto the “top end” city of Darwin. This major access route carries the huge road trains that traverse Australia transporting the essential supplies to the remote outback. This road was also the route taken by the northbound troops during the Second World War and you can see the remnants of many of the airstrips, military campsites and fuel depots that were utilised by our troops during this conflict.

The small town of Elliott is 229 kilometres north of the “Three Ways” roadhouse. Lake Woods, the largest lake in the Northern Territory, is south west of the town and provides camping, swimming and boating facilities. The highway through the town is lined with red Bauhinia trees that attract the raucous black cockatoos and white corellas. Peacocks strut the quiet streets, unperturbed by the traffic passing through this outback settlement.

The PMG Memorial between Elliott and Daly Waters stands in the spot where the northern and southern telegraph wires were eventually linked in 1872. This monument recognises the work of Charles Todd, the Postmaster of South Australia, who was instrumental in the establishment of the Telegraph service which was so vital to this outback part of Australia.

115 kilometres north is the famous “town” of Daly Waters. This small settlement, with its remote airfield, became an important refueling depot during the early years of Australian Aviation. It was here that the aircraft refueled during the London to Sydney air race in 1926. Qantas flights landed here in the 1930’s and the passengers were able to eat at the “Daly Waters” Pub. It was a vital link during the Second World War when our fighters and bombers refueled on their way to Darwin and the battle zone of the Pacific. Now Daly Waters consists of the Hi-Way Inn where excellent food, drinks, fuel and camping/caravan facilities are available and 4 kilometres further west is the famous “Daly Waters” Pub. This internationally known “watering hole” claims to be the oldest pub in the Northern Territory and it offers tourists not only basic accommodation and caravan sites, but also its comic version of interior décor – the walls of the bar and dining room are plastered in foreign currency, T-shirts, farming equipment along with men and women’s various items of underwear which have pride of place over the counters. A permanently red traffic light is at the entrance to the Pub and beautiful bougainvilleas flourish in the warm moist climate. This is truly a tourist paradise and a “must see” attraction on the “track to the top end”.