The township of Tennant Creek today is a modern outback gold mining town and the centre for the Barkly pastoral industry.

The Creek itself is l2kms (7 miles) north of the town, and this is where the Overland Telegraph Station was built in 1872. The historic stone buildings can still be visited.

Tennant Creek is not a desert. The vegetation is open malice shrubland and the average rainfall is 422mm (16.6 inches). The temperatures range from 50°C to the mid thirties in the winter and from the mid twenties to low forties in the summer.

The rich gold and copper fields gave rise to famous mines like Peko, named after prospector Joe Kacsinsky’s dog. Hundreds of old mines dot the “Honeymoon” ranges, so named because two miners brought their new brides to live there.

You can visit an early gold mine by night, then sit around the camp fire under the millions of stars in the brilliant night sky. Or you can experience a more modern working mine or historic stamp battery or try your hand at finding gold yourself.

For more of the real Outback, you can go out for an evening or morning ride on horseback and learn about bush tucker.

The Tennant Creek region is traditional Warumungu country, and today many Aboriginal tribes make it their home. You can learn about Aboriginal culture from murals around the town, or visit the Aboriginal art gallery, and meet some of the people as they create their paintings and objects.