Its name is derived from the mountain range which was named in 1860 by John McDouall Stuart as the Davenport Range after Samuel Davenport, a South Australian politician.

[1] Davenport includes the following places that have been listed on the Northern Territory Heritage Register – the Barrow Creek Hotel, the Barrow Creek Telegraph Station and the Neutral Junction Homestead (Old).

[10][11][12] The locality consists of the following land (from west to east):[13][9] The locality fully surrounds the communities of Ali Curung, Tara and Wutungurra.

[8] As of 2020, it has an area of 28,761 square kilometres (11,105 sq mi).

[2] The 2016 Australian census which was conducted in August 2016 reported that Davenport had 178 people living within its boundaries of which 59.4% were male, 40.6% were female and 59.3% who identified as “Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.”[18] Davenport is located within the federal division of Lingiari, the territory electoral division of Barkly and the local government area of the Barkly Region.