The Ti-Tree Roadhouse

Ti Tree (including Ryans Well, Glen Maggie Homestead and Central Mount Stuart)
Small service town on the Stuart Highway between Alice Springs and Darwin.
To the motorist passing by, Ti Tree just looks like one more roadhouse on the Stuart Highway. There it is out in the middle of nowhere 193 km from Alice Springs and 1289 km from Darwin. Yet, like so many places in the Territory, this deceptive exterior hides an interesting history which includes the Overland Telegraph Line, the problems of water in the desert, and the struggle to develop agricultural activities on marginal land.

No one seems to know how Ti Tree or Tea Tree got its name. One of the first features in the area to be named was Ti Tree Wells (still to be seen on the western side of the highway just south of the township) which was developed during the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line.

In 1888 an area of about 64 km incorporating the well was formally set aside as the Tea Tree Telegraph Reserve and in 1919 W. J. Heffernan was granted a lease to a parcel of land which he called Tea Tree Station. The current station covers an area of 3584 sq. km.

Since the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line Tea Tree Well had become known for its good supply of sweet water but this was not enough to make Heffernan's labours financially rewarding. By 1935 the run was poorly improved with primitive buildings and no horse or bullock paddocks. Heffernan died in Alice Springs in 1969 and the station was carried on by his widow.

In 1975 Ian Dahlenberg took up 640 acres of the station and established Dahlenberg Horticultural Enterprise which now grows grapes and watermelons on Ti Tree Farm.

Ti Tree Station was sold to the Aboriginal Land Fund Commission in 1976 and became a subject of a land claim on behalf of the local Aboriginal people.

The topography around Ti Tree is characterised by flat plains with the Reynolds Ranges in the southwest and the Watt Ranges in the northeast.

The area around Ti Tree has a population of about 1450 people of whom only 130 are non-Aboriginal. The population is distributed between the 11 cattle stations, 6 Aboriginal outstations, Ti Tree township, Barrow Creek community and the agricultural produce farms of Ti Tree Farm, Central Australian Produce Farm and the Territory Grape Farm

Things to see:  

Central Mount Stuart
Central Mount Stuart, a prominent feature to the north of the township on the western side of the Stuart Highway, indicates the approximate geographical centre of Australia.

A plaque at the side of the Stuart Highway 20 km north of Ti Tree commemorates the first European sighting of the mountain. It reads: 'John McDouall Stuart and William Kekwick ascended and named Mount Sturt on 23 April 1860. Later the name Mount Sturt was changed to Central Mount Stuart in honour of the explorer. Stuart's other companion on this expedition was Benjamin Head.'

It is possible to climb the mountain but it takes about one and a half hours from the base and the policeman at Ti Tree, who has climbed it twice, says that both times he failed to find the cairn which Stuart left at the top of the outcrop.

Ryans Well

Ryans Well Historical Reserve
70 km to the south is Ryans Well Historical Reserve. It is named after Ned Ryan (1835?-1893) a stonemason who became an expert at sinking wells.

Ryan was an experienced bushman and had been involved in a number of early explorations of the Territory. He accompanied John McKinlay during his ill-fated 1866 survey of Arnhem Land. The 15 man party were trapped without food on the East Alligator River during 'the wet'. They escaped when Ryan and a fellow bushman built a makeshift raft from the skins of 27 pack horses. The raft blew 13 km out to sea before reaching safety at Escape Cliffs.

Two years later Ryan joined George Goyder's survey team and helped establish the outpost which eventually grew into Darwin. In 1885 he started sinking wells and between 1885–1890 he was the foreman of a team which sank wells throughout the Territory.

Ryans Well was hand dug in 1889 as part of the South Australian Government's attempt to encourage settlement in its Northern Territory. The well was one of several that the government sank along the track that followed the Overland Telegraph Line.

In 1914 the Nicker family built the Glen Maggie sheep and cattle station near the well and charged a small fee per head to draw water for travelling stock.

Ryans Well is worth a visit. A detailed plaque beside the well describes the complex process of raising water. It offers a glimpse into the early history of Central Australia.

The ruins of Glen Maggie Homestead on the eastern side of the Stuart Highway are also an interesting piece of Territory history. Built in 1914 by Sam Nicker, by 1921 the homestead also served as a telegraph office and store. In 1932 it became well known as the last supply point for miners heading northwest to 'The Granites' goldrush. The building was finally abandoned in 1935 and the Telegraph Office was moved north to Aileron Station.

	Camping & Other
	Ti Tree Roadhouse Stuart Hwy Ti Tree NT 0872 Telephone: (08) 8956 9741