Tennant Creek
| Tennant Creek Jurnkkurakurr (Warumungu) Northern Territory | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Main Street, Tennant Creek | |||||||||
  Tennant Creek | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 19°38′50″S 134°11′25″E / 19.64722°S 134.19028°E | ||||||||
| Population | 3,080 (2021 census)[1] | ||||||||
| Established | 3 June 1954 (town)[2] | ||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 0860 | ||||||||
| Time zone | ACST (UTC+9:30) | ||||||||
| Location |
| ||||||||
| LGA(s) | Barkly Region | ||||||||
| Territory electorate(s) | Barkly | ||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Lingiari | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Tennant Creek (Warumungu: Jurnkkurakurr) is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia, about 500 km north of Alice Springs and 1000 km south of Darwin.[3] There are about 3,500 people living in the town, of which 55% are Indigenous.[3] The area is part of the Barkly Tablelands, a large flat grassy plain the size of the United Kingdom,[4] famous for its large cattle stations (farms). The first people to live in the area were the Warramunga people.
The explorer John McDouall Stuart was the first European to visit the area in 1860, but was attacked by warriors from the Warramunga at Attack Creek. In the battle at the creek, Stuart wrote that they "took steady aim" and fired their guns at the Warramunga, but he does not mention if any were killed or injured.[5] Stuart named Tennant Creek after a John Tennant, of Port Lincoln, South Australia.[6]
A repeater station for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line was built 11 km north of Tennant Creek in 1872.[3]
There was a gold rush to Tennant Creek in 1930, Australia's last gold rush.[3] Mining is still a major activity in the area, with gold, manganese and copper mines.[3] In 2011 the Australian government proposed building a nuclear waste dump near the town despite protests from the traditional Aboriginal land owners.[7] The traditional owners challenged the proposal in the Federal Court in June 2014,[8] and the Northern Land Council dropped its plans.[9]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Tennant Creek (SAL)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
- ↑ "NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA (Proclamation of the Town of Tennant Creek)". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. No. 35. Australia. 3 June 1954. p. 1603. Retrieved 25 April 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Tennant Creek the Town: Tennant Creek Australia". Northern Territory Official Travel Site. 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ↑ "Health & Families". Tennant Creek Hospital. 2011. Archived from the original on 7 December 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ↑ Bailey, John (2006). Mr. Stuart's Track: the forgotten life of Australia's greatest explorer. Sydney, Australia: Macmillan. p. 158. ISBN 9781405037303.
- ↑ Smith, Robyn (2011). "John McDouall Stuart: Explorer". docs.google.com. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
- ↑ Adlam, Nigel (16 June 2011). "D-Day to stop nuclear waste dump". Northern Territory News. Retrieved 17 June 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ↑ "Date set for court fight over Muckaty nuclear waste dump". ABC. 2013-08-26. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
- ↑ "Muckaty Station: Northern Land Council withdraws nomination of site of first nuclear waste dump". ABC. 2014-06-19. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
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