Renner Springs

Renner Springs
Pamayu ^[1], Northern Territory
Renner Springs; Pamayu , Northern Territory
	Renner Springs Windmill at the Renner Springs Desert Inn
	Renner Springs
Coordinates	18°19′07″S133°47′45″E / 18.31869°S 133.79573°E
Location	820 km (510 mi) S of Darwin ; 161 km (100 mi) N of Tennant Creek ;

Last updated November 20, 2023

Renner Springs is a location in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is in the heart of the Barkly Tablelands cattle country. In fact, the town promotes itself as "The Heart of the Beef Country."

History

Like so many places along the Stuart Highway, it owes its origins to the Australian Overland Telegraph Line. It was named after Dr. Frederick Renner, who was dispensing medical advice to the team working on the telegraph line when they passed through the springs in 1872. In 1877, Dr. Renner saw a flock of birds while working on the telegraph line and found that the birds were drawn to this particular area by the natural springs, which was later named Mud Springs. These freshwater springs, which bubble up from underground, helped the area surrounding Renner Springs achieve its importance because they provided water to the area. Lake Woods is just north of the town, near Elliott and Newcastle Waters, Northern Territory.

Roadhouse

Established in the 1950s, the Renner Springs Desert Hotel/Motel also has gas, a bar and restaurant, game room and limited Internet access. A caravan park and shaded camp sites are also available.

The roadhouse building is an old army hut relocated after World War II from the army's staging camp 50 km away at Banka Banka Station, which dates from 1885.

Attractions

Churchill's Head Rock

Churchill's Head Rock, considered one of Australia's most crass tourist attractions, is on the old Stuart Highway 78 km south of Renner Springs. The rock, on the east of the old highway, looks vaguely like a profile of Winston Churchill. In order to make the image more persuasive, someone has stuck a piece of piping where the mouth should be so that the profile appears to be smoking a rather large cigar.

Attack Creek

Another 11 km south of Renner Springs is a monument marking the place where on 25 June 1860, John McDouall Stuart, on his second attempt to cross Australia, was repulsed by hostile Aborigines. It became appropriately known as Attack Creek.

Lubra's Lookout

A small plateau formation along the roadside where tribal women are said to watch the approach of tribes from a considerable distance.

Easter Rodeo

Each Easter, Renner Springs has a local rodeo and race meeting that attracts stockmen and punters from all over the Northern Territory. Being such a small community, the annual get-together, known as the Renner Springs Races, is actually held in Tennant Creek.

Temperatures

Renner Springs has high summer temperatures. The summer average maximum is about 35 °C. The summer low is about 24 °C.

Renner Springs has warm winter temperatures. The winter high temperature is about 20 °C. The winter low is about 5 °C.

Related Research Articles

The Northern Territory is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Australia to the west, South Australia to the south, and Queensland to the east. To the north, the territory looks out to the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria, including Western New Guinea and other islands of the Indonesian archipelago.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennant Creek</span> Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

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Stuart Highway is a major Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; a distance of 2,720 km (1,690 mi). Its northern and southern extremities are segments of Australia's Highway 1. The principal north–south route through the central interior of mainland Australia, the highway is often referred to simply as "The Track".

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The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a telegraphy system to send messages over long distances using cables and electric signals. It spanned 3200 kilometres between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Completed in 1872, it allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. When it was linked to the Java-to-Darwin submarine telegraph cable several months later, the communication time with Europe dropped from months to hours; Australia was no longer so isolated from the rest of the world. The line was one of the great engineering feats of 19th-century Australia and probably the most significant milestone in the history of telegraphy in Australia.

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Mary Alice Ward was an Australian teacher and pastoralist born at Kooringa, Burra, South Australia. She is best remembered for her legendary hospitality as owner and operator of Banka Banka Station, a cattle station and World War II supply camp. In fact, she was known as "The Missuss of Banka Banka."

The Elliott District Community Government Council was a local government area of the Northern Territory, Australia. It was centred on the town of Elliott, 254 km north of Tennant Creek and 419 km south of Katherine on the Stuart Highway. The Community Government Council covered an area of 5.4 km² and has a population of 501. The main towns are Elliott and Marlinja.

The Warumungu are a group of Aboriginal Australians of the Northern Territory. Today, Warumungu are mainly concentrated in the region of Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.

Elliott is a town in Northern Territory of Australia. It is almost halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway. The town is in the Yapurkulangu ward of the Barkly Region. At the 2016 census, Elliott had a population of 339.

Barkly Homestead is a roadhouse in the Northern Territory of Australia located on the Barkly Tableland. It is located near the intersection of the Barkly Highway and the Tablelands Highway between the Queensland Border town of Camooweal and the Northern Territory town of Tennant Creek. The roadhouse provides, fuel, meals, snacks, camping, motel, cabin, and powered caravan sites to travellers. It is the only stop between the Stuart Highway and the border of Queensland.

The Kunapa are a clan of Indigenous Australian families of Central Australia who traditionally lived to the north of Tennant Creek, Northern Territory.

The Tennant Creek Telegraph Station is an historical site about 16 kilometres north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory of Australia.

References

1 2 "Place Names Register Extract for "Renner Springs Roadhouse"". NT Place Names Register. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
1 2 "Renner Springs". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 February 2004.

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[placenames-1] 1 2 "Place Names Register Extract for "Renner Springs Roadhouse"". NT Place Names Register. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 17 April 2020.

[SMH-2] 1 2 "Renner Springs". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 February 2004.

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