Elsey National Park Park

Website: https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park/elsey-national-park

Elsey National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory that conserves riverine environments, thermal springs and surrounding savanna near the town of Mataranka.

The park is best known for its warm thermal pools, notably Bitter Springs and the Mataranka Thermal Pool, both set in sheltered stands of paperbark and palm. Visitors use boardwalks, picnic facilities and short walking trails to access swimming spots and riverside scenery.

The park protects country formerly used as Elsey Station and preserves pastoral-era buildings and cultural associations with the early 20th-century station life documented in Australian literature. Land use shifted from pastoralism to formal conservation as the area became protected.

Elsey National Park sits near the small township of Mataranka in the central Northern Territory, roughly southeast of the regional center of Katherine and accessible by the Stuart Highway.

• Bitter Springs boardwalk: Bitter Springs features a wooden boardwalk that runs along the thermal stream, providing easy access and viewpoints over the clear warm water.
• Elsey Homestead significance: The Elsey Homestead site preserves pastoral-era buildings and is linked to the novel ‘We of the Never Never,’ making it of cultural as well as natural interest.

What to See#

• Bitter Springs: Bitter Springs - a warm, gently flowing thermal pool with a boardwalk and shallow channels that is popular for swimming and easy walks.
• Mataranka Thermal Pool: Mataranka Thermal Pool - a naturally warm pool set in tropical vegetation with developed picnic areas and change facilities for visitors.
• Elsey Homestead: Elsey Homestead - remains and interpretive information associated with the former pastoral station that inspired the book ‘We of the Never Never.’

Elsey National Park lies east of Katherine and south of the Stuart Highway. The park’s main access is via the Arnhem Highway to the turnoff for Mataranka; Mataranka is about 100 km south-east of Katherine. Most visitors base themselves in Mataranka village and explore on sealed and unsealed roads; a 2WD usually suffices in the dry season, but check conditions.

• Arrive early to experience the thermal pools at their quietest - mornings reveal steam rising off the water and birds hunting in the reeds.
• Fill fuel and supplies in Mataranka; services become sparse beyond the town.
• Carry a copy of local ranger notices: ephemeral flood warnings and road advisories to crossings on the Roper River can change quickly.