The iconic Daly Waters Pub in Northern Territory

As we travel around the country, we often hear from fellow travellers about beaut spots to call into and have a look. Daly Waters, a couple of hundred kilometres south of Katherine in the Northern Territory, is just one of those places. We had been told about this great pub by quite a few people, but despite how much you’ve heard or been warned, nothing fully prepares you for what you come across here at this unique outback centre.

THIRST-QUENCHING BEGINNINGS

From an historic viewpoint, Daly Waters is the spot where, back in 1862, explorer John McDougall Stuart set up a base camp beside the waterhole on his third and ultimately successful south to north crossing of Australia. He named the spot after the then Governor of South Australia, Sir Dominic Daly. The historic overland telegraph line (OTL) from Adelaide to Darwin, follows Stuart’s route and came through here in 1872. A police post  was established here in 1875, while the famous Durack brothers used the water hole as a landmark and resting place in the 1880s while taking their cattle from Queensland to Western Australia, and the place went on to become a popular cross-country staging post for countless drovers and telegraph linesmen.

Early explorer Alexander Forrest also found this remote telegraph outpost a real saviour when, searching for missing fellow explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, he and his party were critically short of water. Forrest followed the telegraph line to Daly Waters and from there, after recuperation, went on to continue the search.

We wonder what all these thong owners wore once they left the pub...

In 1926 the small Daly Waters airstrip was used in the renowned London to Sydney Air Race. In 1930 Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly from London to Sydney, called into Daly Waters on her historic flight, and then on 17 April 1935 the fledgling airline QANTAS landed here as a scheduled fuel stop with its first load of fare-paying passengers – among them was Lady Edwina Mountbatten, Lord Mountbatten’s wife.

In September 1937 Guinea Airlines commenced a service  through here on its flights between Adelaide and Darwin and in July 1938 a Dutch Airline began a service via Daly Waters from Batavia to Sydney. Daly Waters also secured the contract for refuelling airlines which called through including those heading overseas. All this activity led to another of Daly Waters’ now long-held claims to fame – it was the Northern Territory’s first international airport!

This skinny-tinny couple have been hanging around for months; haven’t bought a round yet...

FIRST-CLASS HERITAGE

Although the old pub’s site dates back to the 1890s, it was not until 1938 that a liquor licence was secured so the owners, Bill and Henrietta Pearce, could provide a full array of drinks, meals, and accommodation services to both aircraft passengers and crew, and it seems the place has never looked back.

During World War II, Daly Waters became an important command post with Hudson bombers and a fighter squadron based here as part of Australia’s northern defence. There was also an important meteorological base set up here, as well as a mobile surgical unit and hospital established during that time to look after the injured from the Darwin bombing raids and evacuees from overseas.

Today there is still much evidence of Daly Waters’ early history to be seen and explored including a tree inscribed by explorer Stuart back on 23 May 1862 and some old telegraph line memorabilia. Although the aerodrome was closed to commercial traffic in 1965, the original aircraft hangar built in 1930 and used for early QANTAS and later RAAF aircraft is still standing and is believed to be the oldest in the NT, along with several old war-time buildings. A couple of old wrecked aircraft lie near the airstrip’s runway. The old hangar also now houses a series of information boards with a wealth of historic detail and photographs. It is well worthwhile spending an hour or so here, taking it all in.

There is also an old post office, police station and gaol and other old relics. There is no charge to visit any of these historic sites – pick up a Heritage Trail brochure at the pub and enjoy checking things out.

In some far-distant future time, this is going to drive archaeologists crazy

PULL UP AT THE BAR

However, it is the Daly Waters Pub that most visitors come to see and an overnight stay is almost  mandatory. The pub is, in fact, virtually the whole town. It has been awarded the Best Wayside Inn in the NT and has been a Brolgas Awards winner for Restaurant and Catering on numerous occasions.

In its early days, the pub witnessed murders and shootouts, and in the main street outside, many a drunken brawl occurred, plus the scary sight of a whole herd of cattle stampeding past its doors. There have even been threats by local station owners to burn the place down to stop their ringers and other workers spending too much time at the bar.

This place is a real classic. As you pull up outside, you’ll see a set of traffic lights (Australia’s most remote) and when they’re working they are always stuck on red! There is a sign indicating angle parking – ‘any angle you like mate!’ Also out front is a hitching rail, a dog pissin’ post, a never-used parking meter, and across the road is an old helicopter up on a roof, an ‘outback servo’, a sign to the nearest McDonald’s drive-thru (286km away) and plenty more … and that is before you’ve even set foot inside the pub.

Tom Maxwell sings Country

If you thought the outside was interesting, the inside is a beauty. Everywhere you look, there’s something to bring on anything from a smile to a real belly-laugh.

There’s a creative display of thongs (most carrying some form of ‘important message’ or piece of advice), thousands of ID cards as well as beer can planes, hats, postcards and a heap of currency pinned to the walls and ceilings. There are also snakes, number plates, guns, saddles, stock whips, an array of mostly female underwear in all sorts of shapes and sizes hanging from the ceiling, some very creative ‘dunny’ signs, and heaps of other wacky stuff to wander through and have a look at. And they serve a nice cold beer, too. Just what’s needed to quench an outback thirst.

During the daytime, things around the pub seem to be quite busy with a continual stream of local and international travellers, station hands, tour groups and Grey Nomads calling in, but at night the place gets busier and better. You just have to have a meal here and you can’t go past the legendary Barra ‘n’ Beef Barbeque for dinner. This iconic meal, of which they cook around 15,000 every year, is genuine wild-caught NT barramundi and juicy prime scotch fillet. They are really delicious and served with generous buffet salads and slices of hot, crusty damper – yum! Alternatively you can have schnitzels, a crocodile or buffalo slider or one of their giant burgers, and did I see a couple with skewers through the middle to hold them all together?

With your appetite well and truly satisfied, it’s time for the free evening entertainment in the pub’s partly covered courtyard beer garden (turned on during the busy  dry season months from May to August). Renowned country music singer Tom Maxwell was on stage the night we called in. All in all an enjoyable – and for first-time visitors – an unforgettable evening.

The well-patronised campground sits alongside the pub

CALLING IT A NIGHT

When it’s eventually time to hit the sack, there are motel units, cabins across the road and, right next to the pub, the campground (which has powered and unpowered sites) is about as laid back as everything else around here. There are a few grassy tent sites but most of the area is just bare earth which is prone to be quite dusty, but after all, you are in the outback now.

The amenities consist of a number of modern donga-style combined toilet/wash basin/shower units where you just wait outside for the next one to become free. There are bins provided, a rustic shelter shed with tables and nearby is a nice, refreshing, salt water pool – what more can you ask for?

Prue Kerr and Dee Williams enjoy full plates

For most travellers, this is simply a one night stopover, but be warned, try to get there by mid afternoon, because after that things can get pretty full. Another word of advice is to order your evening Barra ‘n’ Beef meal when you check in and let them know what time you will be ready to eat.

Next morning, well, talk about a mass exodus – by about 9.30am the whole place was all but emptied out with travellers heading to their next destination up or down the Stuart Highway, and the pub gets ready for another new hoard of tourist travellers later in the day. Daly Waters is just that kind of place.

As we drove away, we asked ourselves would we ever go back again? Too right we will!

We had a ball and can’t wait to call in and enjoy it all again one day. The 3.7 km detour off the Stuart Highway is certainly worth the effort.

Category: Destinations
Written: Thu 01 Nov 2018
Printed: November, 2018
Published By: