Rum Jungle, Northern Territory

Rum Jungle
Northern Territory
Rum Jungle
Location in Northern Territory
Coordinates12°59′39.8″S 131°01′22.7″E / 12.994389°S 131.022972°E / -12.994389; 131.022972
Population84 (2016 census)
Postcode(s)0845
LGA(s)Coomalie Shire
Territory electorate(s)Daly
Federal division(s)Lingiari
Rum Jungle
Browns Oxide Project entry gate, 2009
Location
Rum Jungle
Location in Australia
LocationBatchelor
TerritoryNorthern Territory
CountryAustralia
Coordinates12°59′S 131°01′E / 12.983°S 131.017°E / -12.983; 131.017
Production
ProductsUranium
History
Discovered1949
Opened1950
Closed1971

Rum Jungle or Unrungkoolpum is a locality in the Northern Territory of Australia, about 105 kilometres south of Darwin on the East Branch of the Finniss River. It is 10 kilometres west of Batchelor and shares a boundary with Litchfield National Park.

The joint traditional owners of this area are the Kungarakan and Warai peoples, and their rights to the land are recognised in the Finnis River Land Claim, which was granted in May 1981.

The European name for this area derives from an incident in March 1873 when miners from the nearby John Bull goldmine met a teamster who was carting stores between Southport and Pine Creek. The teamster tapped a cask of rum that he was carrying and shared it with locals. After waking up from the effects of the teamster's hospitality, they found that he had stolen 750 ounces (21 kg) of their gold, along with their horses, and disappeared. Searches for the thief lasted for a number of months until he and the gold were found. The name was first used when reporting the death of Patrick Flynn in November 1873.

Rum Jungle is best known as the site of a uranium deposit, found in 1949, which was mined between 1954 and 1971, producing 3,530 tonnes of uranium oxide, as well as 20,000 tonnes of copper concentrate.