The graves of Stapleton and Franks at Barrow Creek

Barrow Creek
Important in the history of the Territory, it is now little more than a pub and a service station on the road between Alice Springs and Darwin.
Located on the Stuart Highway 284 km north of Alice Springs and 1198 km south of Darwin, Barrow Creek has a history which belies its rather unimpressive appearance. Although the 'town' has only a nominal population and is now little more than a stopover point on the Stuart Highway between The Alice and Darwin it was once one of the more important outposts in the Northern Territory.

The town was named after John Henry Barrow, a preacher, journalist and politician who had migrated to South Australia in 1853. At the time of the creation of the town he was Treasurer of South Australia. The naming of the town after him seemed to have little impact on its fortunes as the government was defeated in 1873.

Like Alice Springs the town came into existence with the arrival of the Overland Telegraph in 1872. The Telegraph Station has been preserved (keys are held at the Pub) and is now a monument to the troubles which beset the early days of the Territory. Two men, John Franks and James L Stapleton, were killed in an attack on the station by local Aborigines. This is not to suggest that the early history of the Territory was one of fending off marauding Aborigines. In fact Barrow Creek was also central to the last major Aboriginal massacre in the Northern Territory. In the 1920s Mounted Constable William George Murray was in charge of the local Police Station and also the 'Chief Protector of Aborigines' in the area. When an old dingo trapper, Fred Brooks, was killed by Aborigines on Coniston Station, Murray led a 'posse' which killed an estimated 70 Aborigines in a series of bloody reprisals. This massacre occurred as recently as 1928. When Murray was called to Darwin to explain his actions he was greeted like some conquering hero. When asked why he had taken no prisoners he expressed the racist attitudes which prevailed in the territory at the time by telling the Darwin court 'What use is a wounded black feller a hundred miles from civilization?' He was totally exonerated of all charges.

It is worth stopping at the Barrow Creek Hotel and talking to the publican Les Pilton who, with an extraordinary memory for detail and a lively sense of humour, can make the history of Barrow Creek come alive. Here's the way he told the history of the settlement to me: 'Barrow Creek was named by John McDouall Stuart on 13 July 1860. Stuart was in competition with other explorers like Burke and Wills to find a route from the south to the north to open up the country. Just 12 years later the Telegraph Station line went through.

'The town was named after John Henry Barrow. Now Barrow was a clergyman in England who was born in 1817 and went out to South Australia in 1853. The story goes that McDouall Stuart could smell a beer a mile away and when he felt the need to repent it was to Barrow's church that he went.

'Then in 1872 the Old Telegraph Station was built complete with tuck pointing on the walls. When the two chaps Stapleton and Franks (one was the stationmaster and the other was the linesman) were killed on 27 February 1874 they were caught on the south side of the verandah and couldn't get round into the main courtyard. The basic design of the building was such that they thought if there was an attack from the Aborigines it would be from the west. Unfortunately for these chaps the Aborigines attacked from the hills on the eastern side.

'As a consequence of those two killings the reprisal was that 50 or 60 Aborigines were killed down at Skull Creek. That was supposed to be the end of the local Aborigines but the people around Barrow Creek today are the descendants of the survivors of that massacre.

'The graves are here and are marked by a wall around the graves and headstones. They're well looked after. There's another grave here of a fellow who became known as the 'Mayor of Barrow Creek'. A chap by the name of Tommy Roberts. Tom came to Barrow Creek in 1952 from North Queensland. In his words he was 'just passing through'. He came on a promotion from the old PMG and Tom stayed until 1986 when he went back to Charters Towers. He died on 8 February 1988 and we had a ceremony for him here on 31 March. Tom had been married for all that time but he lived apart from his wife. He didn't want to leave Barrow Creek and she didn't want to come. Before he died he asked if he could be buried in the graveyard with the two fellows who were killed. His ashes were brought here and a stone was removed from the Telegraph Station and his ashes were placed in there. It's a stone on the north side of the Station.

Barrow Creek could not grow because of the water. It has always had a problem of ground water supplies both in quantity and quality. It was mentioned in the 1870s and just 20 years after the Telegraph Station was built it appeared that they were going to shift Barrow Creek further north about another 40 km towards the crossing at Taylor Creek because there's good ground water up there. To this day there remains a bore up there which is called New Barrow Bore. Poor Tom Roberts had to bathe in salt water all the time he was here. The only good water is rainwater and there's not a great deal of that.

'The old pub was built in 1926 by Joe Kilgarriff (uncle of a NT senator) and it still has the original old bar, underground cellar, and tin ceilings. There's demountable accommodation outside and rooms inside and we've added a caravan park.

'The population of Barrow Creek at the moment is 11 people all of whom work for me. There's two Aboriginal communities - the Tara community which is 12 km northeast and the Pmatajunata down at Stirling Station which is about 35 km from here. There'd be about 120 people down there and 80 people at Tara.'

Things to see:  

The Graves
'The graves are here and are marked by a wall around the graves and headstones. They're well looked after. There's another grave here of a fellow who became known as the 'Mayor of Barrow Creek'. A chap by the name of Tommy Roberts. Tom came to Barrow Creek in 1952 from North Queensland. In his words he was 'just passing through'. He came on a promotion from the old PMG and Tom stayed until 1986 when he went back to Charters Towers. He died on 8 February 1988 and we had a ceremony for him here on 31 March. Tom had been married for all that time but he lived apart from his wife. He didn't want to leave Barrow Creek and she didn't want to come. Before he died he asked if he could be buried in the graveyard with the two fellows who were killed. His ashes were brought here and a stone was removed from the Telegraph Station and his ashes were placed in there. It's a stone on the north side of the Station.

Barrow Creek could not grow because of the water. It has always had a problem of ground water supplies both in quantity and quality. It was mentioned in the 1870s and just 20 years after the Telegraph Station was built it appeared that they were going to shift Barrow Creek further north about another 40 km towards the crossing at Taylor Creek because there's good ground water up there. To this day there remains a bore up there which is called New Barrow Bore. Poor Tom Roberts had to bathe in salt water all the time he was here. The only good water is rainwater and there's not a great deal of that.

The Pub
'The old pub was built in 1926 by Joe Kilgarriff (uncle of a NT senator) and it still has the original old bar, underground cellar, and tin ceilings. There's demountable accommodation outside and rooms inside and we've added a caravan park.

'The population of Barrow Creek at the moment is 11 people all of whom work for me. There's two Aboriginal communities - the Tara community which is 12 km north-east and the Pmatajunata down at Stirling Station which is about 35 km from here. There'd be about 120 people down there and 80 people at Tara.'

	Tourist Information
	Barrow Creek Hotel Stuart Hwy Barrow Creek NT 0872 Telephone: (08) 8956 9753
	Hotels
	Barrow Creek Hotel Stuart Hwy Barrow Creek NT 0872 Telephone: (08) 8956 9753
	Caravan Parks
	Barrow Creek Caravan Park Stuart Hwy Barrow Creek NT 0872 Telephone: (08) 8956 9753
	Restaurants
	Barrow Creek Hotel Stuart Hwy Barrow Creek NT 0872 Telephone: tel: (08) 8956 9753