Government and the Community in Tennant Creek 1947-78

Abstract

This account of the beginnings of community government in Tennant Creek in the years after the Second World War covers a period of economic struggle and growing maturity which laid the foundations of the modern town. There were doubts in the late 1940s that such a small and marginal settlement would achieve permanence and there were many Australian examples of similar places which have disappeared altogether. The reason for its survival until diversification became possible in recent times are complex and rest on a combination of resilience in base metals mining in the district, considerable government support and human tenacity. Show more