In 1873, Mr W Barlow, director of the Virginia Prospecting Company discovered a quartz reef and established a mining claim in the area.

[8] A siding and station was constructed and opened with the North Australia Railway to Pine Creek in 1889 to support the mining industry and growing population.

To support the operation of Vestey's Meatworks in Darwin the railway station was expanded with additional sidings as well as stock yards and cattle loading facilities between 1914 and 1917,[11] a sign of the changing local economy and stronger emphasis on pastoralism.

[12] During World War II, the railway sidings were further expanded and the station became an unloading point for meat and fresh food supplies for troops camped in the area.

In 1966, a site where Stapleton Creek crosses the Stuart Highway, 6 km (3.7 mi) east of the settlement (by this stage little more than a railway siding) was considered for the construction of a flood mitigation and irrigation dam.