Daly Waters — Plan Book Travel Australia

DESTINATION: Daly Waters

Daly Waters is located approximately 274 kilometres south of Katherine near the junction of the Explorer’s Way (Stuart Highway) and Carpentaria Highway (Savannah Way). Despite a tiny population, Daly Waters' pub is one of the Territory’s most famous watering holes. The area's traditional owners, the Jingili people, believe the Dreaming tracks of the Emu and the Sun travelled through here on their way to the southern parts of the Northern Territory. John McDouall Stuart explored around Daly Waters in the late 1800s. He and his party got lost in the region’s thick scrub and became desperate for water. Thus the discovery of a small creek leading to a series of waterholes was particularly significant. He named the area in honour of the Governor of South Australia at the time.

Main Attractions

Daly Waters has the amazing distinction of being Australia's first international airfield. It has an interesting aviation history. It was a centre for the London to Sydney air race of 1926, a World War II airforce base and a refuelling stop for Qantas. The Daly Waters Hangar exhibits interesting facts, photographs and equipment from the areas’ former aviation glory days. The Daly Waters Pub is one of the oldest buildings in the Northern Territory a quaint little place armoured with corrugated iron, draped with bougainvillea and bedecked with decades of memorabilia.