Australian Towns & Cities
Northern Territory: Batchelor
Incorporating photos and Information from Michael Greenslade's former Australian Towns, Cities and Highways site

Batchelor is a small town situated west of the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory.

Batchelor is gateway to the Litchfield National Park, which was established in 1986, and lies west of the town. The first inhabitants and traditional owners of the land surrounding the town were the Warrai and Kungarakany indigenous groups. The town itself came about as a result of a demonstration farm set up nearby at Rum Jungle, designed to investigate economic potential for the Northern Territory, following administrative handover from South Australia to the Commonwealth in 1911. a portion of the land formerly used for the demonstration farm was cleared during 1933 for use as a civilian aerodrome and later became a base for a number of air forces during World War II. In the late 1940s uranium was discovered nearby and mined until 1971. 1 These days the local economy includes tourism, education, the abattoir and various service related industries.


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Preview: Description:
Batchelor Town Centre :
Looking southeast along Tarkarri Rd near Nurndina St in the Batchelor town centre, July 2017.

Image © Michael Greenslade

General Store:
Batchelor General Store and local shopping centre, Tarkarri Rd, July 2017.

Image © Michael Greenslade

Florence Falls :
Florence Falls in the Litchfield National Park, to the west of Batchelor, July 2017.

Image © Michael Greenslade

1 Batchelor Museum
2 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016 Census QuickStats

Last updated: 01-Jan-2019 16:50

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