NT Liquor Commission cancels liquor license at ‘abandoned’ UFO hotspot Wycliffe Well
Action has been taken against the owners of a roadhouse at one of Australia’s UFO hotspots, which has sat ‘abandoned’ for years now. Find out more.
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Action has been taken against the owners of a roadhouse at one of Australia’s UFO hotspots, who “intended” to have the site back up and running by next year after a flood left it in “serious disarray”.
The liquor licence at Wycliffe Well roadhouse, 150km south of Tennant Creek, has been cancelled by the Northern Territory Liquor Commission.
The site, which was once a pilgrimage for UFO hunters in Australia, has sat empty since it was flooded on Christmas Day, 2022.
It’s not the first time the commission tried to withdraw the liquor licence at Wycliffe Well, Liquor Commission chair Russell Goldflam’s decision on the cancellation revealed.
In his decision, Mr Goldflam said in March this year, the commission asked the owners of the site – United Petroleum and the holder of the liquor licence, Silvey Ptd Ltd – to surrender the licence.
But solicitors for the owners and licensee informed the commission “the licensee intended to recommence trade at the premises by 31 May 2025” and sought to keep the licensc, Mr Goldflam said in his decision.
Mr Goldflam’s decision said an agreement was struck in June as part of an enforceable undertaking for the licensee to provide monthly reports to commission detailing works undertaken at Wycliffe Well.
On August 30, the owners provided the first monthly report detailing works undertaken at the site in a bid to keep the liquor licence, Mr Goldflam’s decision said.
The date for Wycliffe Well’s reopening was also pushed back on August 30 to 12 months from June 28, Mr Goldflam’s decision said.
However, only one of these reports was tendered to the commission in August, Mr Goldflam’s decision said, which outlined the owners were awaiting a quote for repair works.
“The licensee’s solicitors stated that the failure to provide the report to the director was ‘due to an oversight by the licensee’,” Mr Goldflam’s decision states.
When compliance officers from the commission visited the site on four separate occasions, they found it “in a state of serious disarray and apparently abandoned”.
A hearing was held in October to cancel the site’s liquor licence, with solicitors for the owners informing the commission they would not attend and accepted the cancellation.
The commission found by failing to provide monthly updates, the owners of the Wycliffe Well site contravened their enforceable undertaking.
In 2021, the “UFO capital of Australia” was sanctioned by the Liquor Commission for failing to eject intoxicated patrons.
Wycliffe Well held a liquor licence with restaurant authority, takeaway and lodging authoritites.
It rose to prominence in the 80s as Australia’s UFO hotspot, with punters travelling far and wide to potentially witness encounters with extraterrestrials.
People were able to share their UFO experiences in a diary kept at the roadhouse, which was also a motel and campground.
It changed hands a number of times, before eventually falling under the ownership of United Fuels.
Originally published as NT Liquor Commission cancels liquor license at ‘abandoned’ UFO hotspot Wycliffe Well
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