• Northern Territory HQ
• Memorable Darwin Fishing Northern Territory
• An Adventure Trip Driving Around The Northern Territory
• Take A Thrilling Fishing Adventure Northern Territory
• Beautiful and Fragrant Frangipani Farm Northern Territory
• Northern Territory
• Outback Town: Katherine Northern Territories Australia
• Northern Territories Copper Mines
• Northern Territory Jungles
• Northern Territory Geography
• Striking Northern Territory Opals
• Great Northern Territory Tourism
• Northern Territory Tourist Information
• The Excitement Of Soccer Northern Territories
• Wooliana Daly River Northern Territory
• Northern Territory HQ Resources

Northern Territory Jungles

Among the various northern territory jungles; 11 km to the north of Batchelor is an area that is known as Rum Jungle. However there are many theories as to the origin of the name 'Rum Jungle'. According to one story the area derived its name because of a group of teamsters, while taking rum to the miners located at Pine Creek, managed to drink 60 gallons of their cargo when passing through this area. Another version as recounted by Jessie Litchfield in her Far-North Memories is that the area got its name "because a party of government officials once went there on important departmental business. They were lost among the empty bottles, and a relief party was sent out to show the way to go home". The version according to the Northern Territory Historical Society claims that when the local hotel keeper ran out of his stock of all liquor apart from rum when there happened to be may campers around. The campers were thus forced to drink only rum and thereby leading to one person remarking "this is a rum place to camp at". No matter which way, Rum jungle seems to have acquired its name through some incident when rum was drunk in excess.

In 1872 when the Overland Telegraph Construction party found gold at Yam Creek, the first miners arrived after having to trek down the road that was made by the telegraph parties and thus Rum Jungle came into existence. Subsequently it became a very popular resting place for teamsters since the area had food and water. In 1874 The Rum Jungle Hotel was built. However the hotel closed down in 1889 with the completion of the railway from Darwin to Pine Creek, site of the big gold rush of 1873. The railway line passed through the small station named Batchelor. Prior to 1907 copper was worked near Rum Jungle but without any economic success. A few small pits became known as the Rum jungle copper mines.

At the end of the First World War, the town of Batchelor was again deserted. However one John Michael White "Jack" to everyone who knew him-itinerant prospector, bushman and farmer, moved out to Batchelor area after the war and set up camp. He took out mining leases over the old copper mines at Rum Jungle. These mines had not been worked since 1915. Exploring the old shafts, Jack picked up some rocks that looked green and puzzled him. No thought was given to these rocks until two years later the Bureau of Mineral Resources produced a booklet illustrating uranium ores and offering a reward of $50,000 from the Federal government for the discovery of uranium lodes. Immediately jack sent his samples to Darwin and they were identified as uranium and northern territory hailed its first discovery of uranium. Rum Jungle again awoke to the roar of machinery and camps established. Northern territories jungle became the then largest industrial undertaking.