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Daly Waters Police Station

The Daly Waters Police Station was opened in 1964 and closed in 1985. It was the local Court House and Post office and was a one man station with an Aboriginal Tracker


Daly Waters Police station was opened in 1964. It was a one man station supported by an Aboriginal tracker. The first Constable to be stationed there was Constable Bazil Smith. The Police station was also the local Post Office and the local Court House and the residence of the local Constable. The Daly Waters township had no local Indigenous community as the land was deemed as poison country.


The station closed in 1985.


Policing duties where -

Motor Vehicle Registry - licensing and vehicle registrations

Community engagement

Traffic patrols of the Stuart Highway

General policing

Patrolling the vast area where there were approximately 10 cattle stations


The town at the time was the standby/backup for the Darwin Airport. The Civil Aviation Dept maintained radio checks and staffed the airport. The Meteorological Bureau had a fully staffed office and Ansett and TAA used to land at the airport 2-3 times a week. The airstrip had tunnels under it so in April 1970 the airstrip was de-licensed as it could not bear the weight of the aircrafts. Station OICs and members

  • Dave Swift was at Daly Waters in 1968 when he became involved in the Larry Boy search.

  • Tom Baker was the OIC from October 1969 to January 1972 - He was also involved in a search for a lost Surveyor on the border/fence line between Balborini Station and Beetaloo Station. A surveyor had gone for a bush walk and not returned. They spent 12 days searching on horseback with approximately 30 people. They located the mad deceased on the 12th day approximately 1 kilometre south of the Daly Waters bitumen road.





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