NEWCASTLE WATERS - POPULATION: APPROXIMATELY 30

JOHN McDOUALL STUART

SUNDAY 28.07.2013: Spent last night at Newcastle Waters Rest Area. Must say that we have revisited the topic of Sybil wanting to take a gun on the trip for protection. Reality check - if you have not arrived at the freedom camp by 2.00pm then you may have trouble finding a spot to sleep for the evening. Talk about rush hour - we have never seen so many people all travelling at the one time. Went into Newcastle Waters, which once provided a butchery, bakery and saddle equipment. Newcastle Waters was named in 1861 by explorer John McDouall Stuart. Abandoned remnants of the township are open for inspection and stand as a museum and memorial to the life of the outback drovers. If we were C-O-N-S-I-D-E-R-A-B-L-Y younger we would look at taking on the Junction Hotel - talk about a business opportunity, but there was one minor issue in that it is now under National Trust.



YE OLD
PETROL PUMP



 

 



JUNCTION HOTEL



 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In return for a clearance of their debts to the storekeeper Jack Sargeant, creditors built the hotel for him in the early 1930's. The hotel was closed in 1976.

An excerpt from "And Yet Sometimes" by Bruce Forbes Simpson (21) 

Ex Murranji Track Drover

"Now the droving is done and no more from the scrub.

Come the drovers to camp by the Newcastle Pub.

They are gone from the routes with their horses and pack

And the tall grasses blow o'er their deep trodden tracks."

THE JONES STORE (1934)

INSIDE THE JONES STORE