ニューカッスルウォーターズのタウンシップは、エクスプローラーウェイのすぐそばにあるテナントクリークの北282キロに位置しています。
Its part of the vast, historic Newcastle Waters Station in the Barkly Tablelands. The explorer John McDouall Stuart reached the area in 1861 and was excited to find a large body of water in Lake Woods nearby and named it after the Duke of Newcastle, the then Secretary for the Colonies.
Stuart established a basecamp near the present site of the station. With the development of the pastoral industry, a small township sprang up and thrived as a supply point at the junction of major droving routes.
The introduction of the road train in the 1960s, however, rendered droving obsolete, and Newcastle Waters quickly became a ghost town and is no longer inhabited.
The National Trust has preserved several buildings and created the Drovers Memorial Park (its centrepiece being a life-sized bronze statue of a drover). It’s a worthwhile stop for those travelling the Explorers Way as an insight into a way of life long past.
Elliot is 25km away and has a roadhouse, post office, police station and medical clinic.