Stapleton is a rural locality in the

Coomalie Shire The Coomalie Community Government Council is a local government area in Australia's Northern Territory, situated south of Darwin and Palmerston. The council governs an area of . The shire had a population of 1,391 in June 2018. History Coomal ...

of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is located approximately northwest of

Adelaide River The Adelaide River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Litchfield National Park and flows generally northwards to Clarence Strait, joined by eight tributaries including the west branch ...

and is situated on Stapleton Creek.

Nomenclature

Stapleton Creek was named by surveyor Gilbert McMinn in 1870 to honour James L Stapleton, a field operator working on the

Overland Telegraph The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a telegraphy system to send messages over long distances using cables and electric signals. It spanned between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital o ...

who would later be killed in an incident that led to the 1874 Barrow Creek Massacre. The locality takes its name from the creek.NT Place Names Registe
Stapleton Creek
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History

The

Awarai The Awarai (Warray) are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language The Norwegian explorer Knut Dahl wrote down a short list of vocabulary of the Awarai language. Country The Awarai tribal lands took in some of territo ...

Aboriginal people are the

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

and original inhabitants of the Stapleton area. The first European exploration of the area occurred with the survey party of 1869 led by

George Goyder George Woodroffe Goyder (24 June 1826 – 2 November 1898) was a surveyor in the Colony of South Australia during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He rose rapidly in the civil service, becoming Assistant Surveyor-General by 1856 ...

. In 1873, Mr W Barlow, director of the Virginia Prospecting Company discovered a quartz reef and established a mining claim in the area. A hotel known as the "Our House Hotel" was opened by Edward D Matthews next to Stapleton Creek in 1874. The end of the same year, applications had been received for a growing number of mining leases in the area, lodged by both the Virginia company and a number of private prospectors. A siding and station was constructed and opened with the

North Australia Railway The North Australia Railway was a narrow gauge railway in the Northern Territory of Australia which ran from the territory capital of Darwin, once known as Palmerston, to Birdum, just south of Larrimah. Initially its name was the ''Palmersto ...

to Pine Creek in 1889 to support the mining industry and growing population. Prior to the line, the settlement had been served by the Haimes Royal Mail coach between

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

on its way to the goldfields near Pine Creek. A cemetery was in use between 1874 and 1902 and is today commemorated by a plaque erected by the NT government with the names of those interred according to the records of the NT genealogical society. By the 1920s, mining activity had declined and agriculture was becoming the dominant industry in the area. To support the operation of

Vestey's Meatworks Vestey's Meatworks, officially the North Australia Meat Company, was a slaughterhouse in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, built by Vestey Brothers between 1914 and 1917. Never profitable, it operated for three years before the company ab ...

in Darwin the railway station was expanded with additional sidings as well as stock yards and cattle loading facilities between 1914 and 1917, a sign of the changing local economy and stronger emphasis on pastoralism. Small scale cotton crops were grown with some success during this period. During World War II, the railway sidings were further expanded and the station became an unloading point for meat and fresh food supplies for troops camped in the area. In 1966, a site where Stapleton Creek crosses the

Stuart Highway Stuart Highway is a major Australia, Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; a distance of . Its northern and sou ...

, east of the settlement (by this stage little more than a railway siding) was considered for the construction of a flood mitigation and irrigation dam. Despite a geological survey and investigation being conducted by the Commonwealth Government, the dam was not constructed.

Present Day

Little trace remains of the former hotel and railway station today. The area is mostly a rural locality with a number of agricultural properties and a few dwellings close to the creek. A plaque marks the site of the one time cemetery. The unsealed roads through the area are used by locals as an alternative route between Batchelor and Adelaide River.

References

{{Coomalie Shire Localities and Settlements Abandoned settlements in the Northern Territory