Darwin, Northern Territory
Encyclopedia
Darwin
is the capital city of the Northern Territory
, Australia
. Situated on the Timor Sea
, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities. It is the smallest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities, and acts as the Top End
's regional centre.
Darwin has grown from a pioneer outpost and small port into one of Australia's most modern and multicultural cities. Its proximity to Asia makes it an important Australian gateway to countries such as Indonesia
and East Timor
. The Stuart Highway
begins in Darwin, ending at Port Augusta
in South Australia.
The city itself is built on a low bluff overlooking the harbour. Its suburbs spread out over some area, beginning at Lee Point
in the north and stretching to Berrimah
in the east—past Berrimah, the Stuart Highway goes on to Darwin's satellite city, Palmerston
, and its suburbs.
The region, like the rest of the Top End
, has a tropical climate, with a wet
and a dry season
. It receives heavy rainfall during the Wet, and is well known for its spectacular lightning.
The original inhabitants of the greater Darwin area are the Larrakia
people. On 9 September 1839, HMS Beagle
sailed into Darwin harbour during its surveying of the area. John Clements Wickham
named the region "Port Darwin" in honour of their former shipmate Charles Darwin
, who had sailed with them on the ship's previous voyage
which had ended in October 1836. The settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869, and was renamed Darwin in 1911.
Having been almost entirely rebuilt twice, once due to Japanese air raids during World War II, and again after being devastated by Cyclone Tracy
in 1974, the city is one of Australia's most modern capitals.
language group are the first inhabitants of the greater Darwin area. They had trading routes with Southeast Asia (see Macassan contact with Australia
), and imported goods from as far afield as South
and Western Australia. Established songlines
penetrated throughout the country, allowing stories and histories to be told and retold along the routes.
The Dutch visited Australia's northern coastline in the 1600s, and created the first European maps of the area. This accounts for the Dutch names in the area, such as Arnhem Land
and Groote Eylandt
.
The first British person to see Darwin harbour appears to have been Lieutenant John Lort Stokes
of HMS Beagle
on 9 September 1839. The ship's captain, Commander John Clements Wickham
, named the port after Charles Darwin
, the British naturalist who had sailed with them both on the earlier second expedition of the Beagle
.
In the early 1870s Darwin felt the effects of a gold rush
at Pine Creek
after employees of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line
found gold while digging holes for telegraph poles.
In early 1875 Darwin's European population had grown to approximately 300 because of the gold rush. On 17 February 1875 the SS Gothenburg
left Darwin en route for Adelaide
. The approximately 88 passengers and 34 crew (surviving records vary) included government officials, circuit-court judges, Darwin residents taking their first furlough
and miners. While travelling south along the north Queensland coast, the Gothenburg encountered a cyclone-strength storm and was wrecked on a section of the Great Barrier Reef
. Only 22 men survived, while between 98 and 112 people perished. Many passengers who perished were Darwin residents and news of the tragedy severely affected the small community, which reportedly took several years to recover.
The Northern Territory was initially annexed 1863 from the legal fiction of "New South Wales
", settled and Vice Regally administered by the British Empire
's colonial Province, "South Australia
", until its transfer to federal jurisdiction in 1911. On 5 February 1869, George Goyder
, the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin. Goyder named the settlement Palmerston
, after the British Prime Minister
Lord Palmerston. In 1870, the first poles for the Overland Telegraph
were erected in Darwin, connecting Australia to the rest of the world. The discovery of gold at Pine Creek
in the 1880s further boosted the young colony's development. On transfer to federal administration in 1911, Darwin became the city's official name.
The period between 1911 and 1919 was filled with political turmoil, particularly with trade union unrest, which culminated on 17 December 1918. Led by Harold Nelson
, some 1000 demonstrators marched to Government House
at Liberty Square in Darwin where they burnt an effigy
of the Administrator of the Northern Territory
John Gilruth
and demanded his resignation. The incident became known as the 'Darwin Rebellion
'. Their grievances were against the two main Northern Territory employers: Vestey’s Meatworks
and the federal government. Both Gilruth and the Vestey company left Darwin soon afterwards.
Around 10,000 Allied troops arrived in Darwin in the early 1940s at the outset of World War II, in order to defend Australia's northern coastline. On 19 February 1942 at 0957, 188 Japanese
warplanes attacked Darwin in two waves. It was the same fleet that had bombed Pearl Harbor
, though a considerably larger number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than on Pearl Harbor. The attack killed at least 243 people and caused immense damage to the town. These were by far the most serious attacks on Australia in time of war, in terms of fatalities and damage. They were the first of many raids on Darwin.
Despite this major attack, Darwin's development was furthered considerably during the war, with sealed roads constructed connecting the region to Alice Springs
in the south and Mount Isa
in the south-east, and Manton Dam built in the south to provide the city with water. On Australia Day
(26 January) 1959, Darwin was granted city status.
On 25 December 1974 Darwin was struck by Cyclone Tracy
, which killed 71 people and destroyed over 70% of the town's buildings, including many old stone buildings such as the Palmerston Town Hall, which could not withstand the lateral forces generated by the strong winds. After the disaster, 30,000 people of a then population of 43,000 were evacuated, in what turned out to be the biggest airlift in Australia's history. The town was subsequently rebuilt with newer materials and techniques during the late 1970s by the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, led by former Brisbane
Lord Mayor Clem Jones
. A satellite city of Palmerston
was built 20 km (12.4 mi) south of Darwin in the early 1980s.
On 17 September 2003 the Adelaide-Darwin railway
was completed, with the opening of the Alice Springs-Darwin standard gauge line.
Darwin is situated in the Northern Territory, on the Timor Sea
. The town proper is built on a low bluff overlooking Darwin harbour, flanked by Frances Bay to the east and Cullen Bay to the west. The remainder of the city is flat and low-lying, and coastal areas are home to recreational reserves, extensive beaches, and excellent fishing.
Darwin is closer to the capitals of five other countries than to the capital of Australia: Darwin is 3137 kilometres (1,949 mi) away from Canberra
. Dili
(East Timor) is 656 km (408 mi), Port Moresby
(Papua New Guinea) is 1818 km (1,130 mi), Jakarta
(Indonesia) is 2700 km (1,678 mi), Bandar Seri Begawan
(Brunei) is 2607 km (1,620 mi), and Melekeok
(Palau) is 2247 km (1,396 mi) from Darwin.
Even Singapore is only slightly farther away at 3350 km (2,082 mi), as is Manila
(Philippines) at 3206 km (1,992 mi), and Honiara
(Solomon Islands) at 3198 km (1,987 mi). Ambon
, Indonesia, is only 881 km (547 mi) away from Darwin.
Along with its importance as a gateway to Asia, Darwin also acts as an access point for the Kakadu National Park
, Arnhem Land
, and northerly islands such as Groote Eylandt
and the Tiwi Islands
. The city is the largest in the area, and provides services for these remote settlements.
Darwin and its suburbs spread in an approximately triangular shape, with the older south-western suburbs—and the city itself—forming one corner, the newer northern suburbs in another, and the eastern suburbs, progressing towards Palmerston, forming the third.
The older part of Darwin is separated from the newer northern suburbs by Darwin International Airport
and Royal Australian Air Force Base. Palmerston
is a satellite city 20 km (12.4 mi) south of Darwin that was established in the 1980s and is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Australia. The rural areas of Darwin including Howard Springs
, Humpty Doo
and Berry Springs
are experiencing strong growth.
Darwin's central business district is bounded by Daly Street in the north-west, McMinn Street in the north-east, Mitchell Street on the south-west and Bennett Street on the south-east. The CBD has been the focus of a number of major projects, including the billion dollar redevelopment of the Stokes Hill wharf waterfront area including a convention centre with seating for 1500 people and approximately 4000 square metres (43,055.6 sq ft) of exhibition space. The development will also include hotels, residential apartments and public space.
The city's main industrial areas are along the Stuart Highway going towards Palmerston, centred on Winnellie
. The largest shopping precinct in the area is Casuarina Square
.
The most expensive residential areas are located along the coast in suburbs such as Larrakeyah
and Brinkin
, despite the slight risk these low-lying regions face during cyclones and higher tides. The inner northern suburbs of Millner
and Coconut Grove
and the eastern suburb of Karama
are home to lower-income households, although low-income Territory Housing units are scattered throughout the metropolitan area.
Darwin has a tropical savannah climate
(Köppen Awgi
) with distinct wet and dry seasons and the average maximum temperature is similar all year round. The dry season
runs from April/May to October (the southern hemisphere winter), during which nearly every day is warm and sunny, and afternoon humidity averages around 30%.
There is very little rainfall between May and September. In the coolest months of June and July, the daily minimum temperature may dip as low as 14 °C (57.2 °F), but very rarely lower, and frost has never been recorded.
The wet season is associated with tropical cyclone
s and monsoon rains. The majority of rainfall occurs between December and March (the southern hemisphere summer), when thunderstorms are common and afternoon relative humidity averages over 70 per cent during the wettest months. It does not rain every day during the wet season, but most days are warm to hot with plentiful cloud cover; January averages under 6 hours of bright sunshine daily. Darwin's highest Bureau of Meteorology verified daily rainfall total is 367.6 mm, which fell when Cyclone Carlos bore down on the Darwin area on 16 February 2011
The hottest month is November, just before the onset of the main rainy season. Because of its long dry season, Darwin has the most daily average sunshine hours (8.4) of any Australian capital with the most sunshine from April to November. The sun passes directly overhead in mid October and mid February.
Climatically Darwin has more in common with Singapore than Sydney because it sits well inside the tropical zone.
Darwin is located in one of the most lightning-prone areas in the world. On 31 January 2002, an early morning squall line
produced over 5,000 cloud to ground lightning strikes within a 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) radius of Darwin alone which is about 3 times the amount of lightning that Perth, Western Australia
, experiences on average in an entire year.
In 2006, the largest ancestry groups in Darwin were, Australian (42,221 or 36.9 per cent), English (29,766 or 26 per cent), Irish (9,561 or 8.3 per cent), Scottish (7,815 or 6.8 per cent), Chinese (3,502 or 3 per cent), Greek (2,828 or 2.4 per cent) and Italian (2,367 or 2 per cent)
Darwin's population is notable for the highest proportional population of Aborigines
of any Australian capital city. In the 2006 census 10,259 (9.7 per cent) of Darwin's population was Aboriginal.
Darwin's population changed after the Second World War. Darwin, like many other Australian cities, experienced influxes from Europe, with significant numbers of Italians and Greeks during the 1960s and 1970s. Darwin also started to experience an influx from other European countries, which included the Dutch, Germans and many others. A significant percentage of Darwin's residents are recent immigrants from South East Asia (Asian Australian
s were 9.3% of Darwin's population in 2001).
Darwin's population comprises people from many ethnic backgrounds. The 2006 Census revealed that the most common places of birth for overseas migrants were the United Kingdom (3.4 per cent), New Zealand (2.1 per cent), the Philippines (1.4 per cent) and East Timor (0.9 per cent). 18.3 percent of the city's population was born overseas, which is less than the Australian average of 22%
Darwin has a youthful population with an average age of 32 years (compared to the national average of around 35 years) assisted to a large extent by the military presence and the fact that many people opt to retire elsewhere.
The most common languages spoken in Darwin after English are Greek, Italian, Indonesian
, Vietnamese
and Cantonese.
(14,028 or 12.3 per cent) and Greek Orthodox (2,964 or 2.6 per cent). Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Jews account for 3.2 per cent of Darwin's population. There were 26,695 or 23.3 per cent of people professing no religion.
and Litchfield
parts of the Darwin statistical division have recorded the highest growth in population of any Northern Territory
Local Government Area
and by 2016 Litchfield
could overtake Palmerston
as the second largest municipality in metropolitan Darwin. It is predicted by 2021 that the combined population of both Palmerston
and Litchfield
would be 101,546 people.
(Incorporated under the Northern Territory Local Government Act 1993) governs the City of Darwin
which takes in the CBD and the suburbs. The Darwin City Council has governed the City of Darwin since 1957. The Darwin City Council consists of 13 elected members, the Lord Mayor
and 12 aldermen.
The City of Darwin electorate is organised into four electoral units or wards. The names of the wards are Chan, Lyons, Richardson, and Waters. The constituents of each ward are directly responsible for electing three aldermen. Constituents of all wards are directly responsible for electing the Lord Mayor of Darwin. The current mayor is Graeme Sawyer
after council elections in March 2008 replacing Garry Lambert
, who took over from previous mayor Peter Adamson
.
The rest of the Darwin area is divided into 2 local government areas
. One of these is designated as a City, and the second, which is on the city's outer fringe, has the title of Shire. These areas have elected councils which are responsible for functions delegated to them by the Northern Territory Government, such as planning and garbage collection.
The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
convenes in Darwin in the Northern Territory Parliament House
. Government House
, the official residence of the Administrator of the Northern Territory
, is located on The Esplanade.
Also located on the Esplanade is the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. Darwin has a Magistrate's Court also which is located on the corner of Cavenagh and Bennett Streets quite close to the Darwin City Council Chambers.
Darwin's police force are members of the Northern Territory Police
Force. Darwin's Mitchell Street, with its numerous pubs, clubs and other entertainment venues, is policed by the CitySafe Unit. The CitySafe unit was recently credited with reducing violent crime in and around Darwin City. Darwin has a long record of alcohol abuse and violent crime with 6000 assaults in 2009, of which 350 resulted in broken jaws and noses – more than anywhere else in the world, according to the Royal Darwin Hospital.
The two largest economic sectors are mining and tourism. Mining and energy industry production exceeds $2.5 billion per annum. The most important mineral resources are gold, zinc and bauxite
, along with manganese
and many others. The energy production is mostly off shore with oil and natural gas from the Timor Sea, although there are significant uranium deposits near Darwin. Tourism employs 8% of Darwin residents, and is expected to grow as domestic and international tourists are now spending time in Darwin during the Wet
and Dry
seasons. Federal spending is a major contributor to the local economy as well.
The military presence that is maintained both within Darwin, and the wider Northern Territory, is a substantial source of employment. The continued involvement of the Australian Army
in the stabilisation of East Timor has swelled the military population of Darwin to over 11,000 individuals as of 2001. There is also a substantial United Nations presence in Darwin, since Darwin serves as the staging center for UN workers and contractors en route to nearby East Timor.
Darwin's importance as a port is expected to grow, due to the increased exploitation of petroleum in the nearby Timor Sea, and to the completion of the railway link and continued expansion in trade with Asia.
During 2005, a number of major construction projects started in Darwin. One is the redevelopment of the Wharf Precinct, which includes a large convention and exhibition centre, apartment housing including Outrigger Pandanas
and Evolution on Gardiner
, retail and entertainment outlets including a large wave pool and safe swimming lagoon. The Chinatown project has also started with plans to construct multi-level carparks, Chinese-themed retail and dining outlets.
Education is overseen territory-wide by the Department of Education and Training (DET), whose role is to continually improve education outcomes for all students, with a focus on Indigenous students.
There were 9,764 students attending schools in the City of Darwin
area. 6,045 students attended primary schools and 3,719 students attended secondary schools. There are over 7,161 students enrolled in government schools and 1,108 students enrolled in independent schools. There are over 35 primary and pre – schools, and 12 secondary schools including both government and non-government. Most schools in the city are secular, but there are a small number of Christian, Catholic and Lutheran
institutions. Students intending to complete their secondary education work towards the Northern Territory Certificate of Education
, which is recognised in all states and territories. Many of the schools are undergoing renovations and reconstruction. Schools have been restructured into Primary, Middle and High schools since the beginning of 2007.
which is the central provider of tertiary education in the Northern Territory, it covers both vocational and academic courses, acting as both a university and an Institute of TAFE
. There are over 5,500 students enrolled in tertiary and further education courses.
, where a large firework display is commissioned by the government.
Weekly markets include Mindil Beach Sunset Markets (Thursdays and Sundays during the dry season), Parap Market
, Nightcliff Market and Rapid Creek market
. Mindil Beach Sunset Markets are very popular with locals and tourists alike and feature food, souvenirs, clothes and local performing artists.
The Darwin Festival held annually, includes comedy, dance, theatre, music, film and visual art and the NT Indigenous Music Awards
. Other festivals include the Glenti, which showcases Darwin's large Greek community, and India@Mindil, a similar festival held by the smaller Indian community. The Chinese New Year
is also celebrated with great festivity, highlighting the Asian influence in Darwin.
The Seabreeze festival, which first started in 2005, is held on the second week of May in the suburb of Nightcliff. It offers the opportunity for local talent to be showcased and a popular event is Saturday family festivities along the Nightcliff foreshore which is one of Darwin's most popular fitness tracks.
The Speargrass Festival is held annually the week prior to July's first full moon and celebrates the alternative Top End
lifestyle. The festival activities include music, screening of locally produced films, screen printing, basket weaving, sweat lodge, water slides, human pyramid, hot tub, frisbee golf, spear throwing, Kubb competition, bingo, communal organic cooking, morning yoga, meditation, greasy pig and healing circles. The festival occurs at the Speargrass property, 50 km (31.1 mi) northeast of Pine Creek.
The Darwin beer-can regatta
, held in August, celebrates Darwin's love affair with beer and contestants' race boats made exclusively of beer cans. Also in Darwin during the month of August, are the Darwin Cup horse race, and the Rodeo
and Mud Crab
Tying Competition.
The World Solar Challenge
race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 20-year history spanning nine races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987.
The Darwin Symphony Orchestra
was first assembled in 1989, and has performed throughout the Territory. The Darwin Theatre Company is a locally produced professional theatre production company, performing locally and nationally.
The Darwin Entertainment Centre
is the city's main concert venue and hosts theatre and orchestral performances. Other theatres include the Darwin Convention Centre
, opened in July 2008. The Darwin Convention Centre is part of the $1.1 billion Darwin Waterfront project.
Darwin's only casino opened in 1981 as the Diamond Beach Casino, it later became the MGM Grand Darwin, before it changed to Skycity Darwin
after Skycity Entertainment Group
purchased the hotel in 2004.
Darwin is home to the Indo-Pacific Marine & Australian Pearling Exhibition, which houses an aquarium with living coral and complementary sea life. The Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery
in Darwin gives an overview of the history of the area, including exhibits on Cyclone Tracy and the boats of the Pacific Islands. The East Point Military museum
tells the story of the Japanese air raids on Darwin during WWII.
The Darwin Festival and the Darwin Fringe festival are annual events. A range of art galleries including specialised Aboriginal art galleries are a feature of Darwin.
Local and visiting musical bands can be heard at venues including the Darwin Entertainment Centre
, The Vic Hotel
, Happy Yess, and Brown's Mart. An yearly music festival, Bass in the Grass, is very popular with youth from the surrounding area. Artists such as Jessica Mauboy
and The Groovesmiths
call Darwin home.
There have been no major films set in Darwin; however, some scenes for Australia
by Baz Luhrmann
and Black Water
were both shot in Darwin in 2007
Mitchell Street in the central business district is lined with nightclubs, takeaways, and restaurants. This is the city's entertainment hub. There are several smaller theatres, three cinema complexes (CBD, Casuarina, and Palmerston), and the Deckchair Cinema. This is an open-air cinema which operates through the dry season, from April to October, and screens independent
and arthouse films.
The city has many kilometres of wide, unpolluted beaches, including the Casuarina Beach
and well renowned Mindil Beach, home of the Mindil Beach markets. Darwin City Council has designated an area of Casuarina Beach as a free beach which offers a designated nudist beach area since 1976.
Swimming in the sea during the months of October–May should be avoided due to the presence of deadly box jellyfish
, known locally as stingers.
Saltwater crocodile
s are very common in all waterways surrounding Darwin and are even occasionally found swimming in Darwin Harbour and on local beaches.
Fishing is one of the recreations of Darwin locals. Visitors from around the world flock to Darwin aiming to catch the prized barramundi
, an iconic fish for the region. The Mary River
, Daly River, South and East Alligator River are just a few of the water bodies where the barramundi thrive.
Blue-water fishing is also available off the coast of Darwin; Spanish mackerel
, Black Jewfish, queenfish
, snapper and other varieties are all found in the area and accessible in a day trip from Darwin. Lake Alexander
is a man-made lake which is generally considered safe, bar a freak jellyfish outbreak in 2003, and is located at East Point Reserve.
The Darwin Surf Lifesaving Club operates long boats and surf skis and provides events and lifesaving accreditations.
, East Point Reserve
, Casuarina Coastal Reserve, Charles Darwin National Park
, Knuckey Lagoons Conservation Reserve
, Leanyer Recreation Park, the Nightcliff
Foreshore, Bicentennial Park
and the Jingili Water Gardens.
(TIO Stadium), cricket, rugby union
, basketball (and indoor court sports), soccer, athletics and field hockey
. Every two years since 1991 (excluding 2003 due to the SARS outbreak), Darwin has played host to the Arafura Games
, a major regional sporting event
. In July 2003, the city hosted its first international test cricket
match between Australia and Bangladesh, followed by Australia and Sri Lanka in 2004.
Australian-rules football and rugby league
are played all year round. Melbourne's Western Bulldogs
Australian Football League
side plays one home game at Marrara Oval each year. The ATSIC Aboriginal All-Stars also participate in the AFL
pre-season competition. In 2003, a record crowd of 17,500 attended a pre-season game between the All-Stars and Carlton Football Club
at Marrara.
Darwin hosts a round of the V8 Supercars every year bringing thousands of motorsports fans to the Hidden Valley Raceway
.
The Darwin Cup culminating on the first Monday of August is a very popular horse race event for Darwin and draws large crowds every year to Fannie Bay Racecourse. While it is not as popular as the Melbourne Cup
, it does draw a crowd and, in 2003, Sky Racing
began televising most of the races. The Darwin Cup day is a public holiday for the Northern Territory (Picnic Day public holiday).
Darwin's major newspapers are the Northern Territory News
(Monday – Saturday), The Sunday Territorian (Sunday), and the national daily, The Australian
(Monday – Friday) and The Weekend Australian (Saturday), all published by News Limited
. Free weekly community newspapers include the Darwin Sun, the Litchfield Sun, and Palmerston Sun; all published by a News Limited subsidiary.
Five free-to-air channels service Darwin. Commercial television channels are provided by Southern Cross Darwin
(Seven Network
affiliate), Channel Nine Darwin (formerly branded as Channel 8) and Darwin Digital Television (Network Ten
relay), which launched on 28 April 2008. The two Government owned national broadcast services in Darwin are the ABC
and SBS
. Subscription Television (Pay TV) service Austar
is available via cable in the Darwin region.
Darwin has radio stations on both AM and FM frequencies. ABC stations include ABC News Radio
(102.5FM), ABC Local Radio
(105.7FM), ABC Radio National
(657AM), ABC Classic FM
(107.3FM) and Triple J
(103.3FM). SBS
(102.5FM) also broadcasts its national radio network to Darwin.
Darwin has two commercial radio stations Hot 100
and Mix 104.9
. Other stations in Darwin include university-based station 104.1 Territory FM
, dance music station KIK FM
91.5, Italian language channel Rete Italia
1611AM, community based stations includes Radio Larrakia
94.5 and Yolngu Radio 1530AM and Rhema FM
97.7.
Department of Health and Families oversees one public hospital in the Darwin metropolitan region. The Royal Darwin Hospital
, located in Tiwi
, is the city's major teaching and referral hospital, and the largest in the Northern Territory.
There is one major private hospital Darwin Private Hospital located at Tiwi
, opposite the Royal Darwin Hospital.
Darwin has no commuter rail system, however long distance passenger rail services do operate out of the city. The Alice Springs to Darwin rail line was completed in 2003 linking Darwin to Adelaide
. The first service ran in 2004. The Ghan passenger train service from Adelaide via Alice Springs and Katherine runs two to three times per week depending on the season.
Darwin International Airport
, located in the suburb of Marrara
, is Darwin's only airport, which shares its runways with the Royal Australian Air Force
's RAAF Base Darwin
.
Darwin can be reached via the Stuart Highway
which runs the length of the Northern Territory from Darwin through Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and on to Adelaide. Other major roads in Darwin include, Tiger Brennan Drive
, Amy Johnson Avenue
, Dick Ward Drive, Bagot Road, Trower Road and McMillans Road. Bus service in the greater Darwin area is served by Darwinbus
.
Ferries leave from Port Darwin to island locations, mainly for tourists. A ferry service to the Tiwi Islands
, the Arafura Pearl operates from Cullen Bay.
Darwin has a new deepwater port at Darwin East Arm, which is capable of handling Panamax
sized ships.
, which is owned by the Government of the Northern Territory
. The corporation is also responsible for management of sewage and the major water catchments in the region. Water is mainly stored in the largest dam, The Darwin River Dam which holds up to 90% of Darwin's water supply. For many years, Darwin's principal water supply came from Manton Dam.
Darwin, its suburbs, Palmerston and Katherine
are powered by the Channel Island Power Station, The largest power plant in the Northern Territory
.
A new power plant, the Weddell Power Station, is currently near completion. The first two generators came on line in 2008–2009. The third generator is due to be completed in 2011–12. When the power station is fully operational, it will add 30% capacity to Darwin's power supply.
In 2005/06, 1.38 million people visited the Northern Territory. They stayed for 9.2 million nights and spent over $1.5 billion.
The tourism industry directly employed 8,391 Territorians in June 2006 and when indirect employment is included, tourism typically accounts for more than 14,000 jobs across the Territory.
Darwin is a hub for tours to Kakadu National Park
, Litchfield National Park
and Katherine Gorge.
The Territory is traditionally divided into the wet and dry, but there are up to six traditional seasons in Darwin.
It is warm and sunny from May to September. Humidity rises during the green season, from October to April bringing thunderstorms and monsoonal rains which rejuvenates the landscape. Tourism is largely seasonal with most tourists visiting during the cooler dry season which runs from April to September.
Darwin has played host to many of aviation's early pioneers. On 10 December 1919 Captain Ross Smith
and his crew landed in Darwin and won a £10,000 Prize from the Australian Government for completing the first flight from London to Australia in under thirty days. Smith and his Crew flew a Vickers Vimy
, G-EAOU and landed on an airstrip that has now become Ross Smith Avenue.
Other aviation pioneers include Amy Johnson
, Amelia Earhart
, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith
and Bert Hinkler
. The original QANTAS Empire Airways Ltd Hangar, part of the original Darwin Civil Aerodrome in Parap, is now a museum and still bears scars from the bombing of Darwin during World War II.
Darwin was home to Australian and US pilots during the war, with air strips being built in and around Darwin. Today Darwin provides a staging ground for military exercise
s.
Darwin was a compulsory stop over/check point in the London to Melbourne Centenary Air Race in 1934. The official name of the race was the MacRobertson Air Race
. Winners of the great race were Tom Campbell Black
and C. W. A. Scott.
The following is an excerpt from Time magazine
, 29 October 1934, Volume XXIV, Number 18.
The Australian Aviation Heritage Centre is located approximately 8 km (5 mi) from the City centre on the Stuart Highway and is one of only two places outside the United States where a B52 bomber (on permanent loan from the United States Air Force) is on public display.
and President Barack Obama
announced that the United States would station troops in Australia for the first time. The agreement between the United States and Australia would involve a contingent of 250 Marines arriving in Darwin in 2012, with the total number rising to a maximum of 2,500 troops by 2017 on six month rotations. China
and Indonesia
have expressed concern about the decision. Some analysts have argued that an expanded US presence could pose a threat to security, a view defence analyst Paul Dibb rejects, noting the deterrent effect of an offshore US military presence in the 1999 East Timorese crisis
which dissauded Indonesia from directly attacking Australian peacekeepers.
is the capital city of the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Situated on the Timor Sea
Timor Sea
The Timor Sea is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, to the south by Australia and to the west by the Indian Ocean....
, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities. It is the smallest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities, and acts as the Top End
Top End
The Top End of northern Australia is the second northernmost point on the continent. It covers a rather vaguely-defined area of perhaps 400,000 square kilometres behind the northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to Arnhem Land with the Indian Ocean on the west, the...
's regional centre.
Darwin has grown from a pioneer outpost and small port into one of Australia's most modern and multicultural cities. Its proximity to Asia makes it an important Australian gateway to countries such as Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
. The Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...
begins in Darwin, ending at Port Augusta
Port Augusta, South Australia
-Electricity generation:Electricity is generated at the Playford B and Northern power stations from brown coal mined at Leigh Creek, 250 km to the north...
in South Australia.
The city itself is built on a low bluff overlooking the harbour. Its suburbs spread out over some area, beginning at Lee Point
Lee Point, Northern Territory
Lee Point is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.-History:Lee Point is not yet a developed suburb. The suburb name is derived from the point "Lee Point" which appears on Goyder’s 1869 Plan of Port Darwin and probably dates back to Stokes’ examination of the...
in the north and stretching to Berrimah
Berrimah, Northern Territory
Berrimah is an Eastern Suburb in the city of Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia.-History:Before World War II, in 1941 the Military authorities had decided on a number of locations in the north to identify strategic "camps" on ‘the road to the North’ - "Berrimah", "Noonamah" and...
in the east—past Berrimah, the Stuart Highway goes on to Darwin's satellite city, Palmerston
Palmerston, Northern Territory
Palmerston is a planned satellite city of Darwin, the capital and largest city in Australia's Northern Territory. Palmerston is situated near Darwin Harbour and has an urban population of 23,614 on the 2006 Census night and making it the second largest city in the territory...
, and its suburbs.
The region, like the rest of the Top End
Top End
The Top End of northern Australia is the second northernmost point on the continent. It covers a rather vaguely-defined area of perhaps 400,000 square kilometres behind the northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to Arnhem Land with the Indian Ocean on the west, the...
, has a tropical climate, with a wet
Wet season
The the wet season, or rainy season, is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region occurs. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the...
and a dry season
Dry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
. It receives heavy rainfall during the Wet, and is well known for its spectacular lightning.
The original inhabitants of the greater Darwin area are the Larrakia
Larrakia
Larrakia are the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Larrakia Country which includes the area in and around Darwin, Northern Territory in Australia...
people. On 9 September 1839, HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...
sailed into Darwin harbour during its surveying of the area. John Clements Wickham
John Clements Wickham
John Clements Wickham was a naval officer, magistrate and administrator. He was a Lieutenant on HMS Beagle during her second survey mission from 1831 to 1836, which took the young naturalist Charles Darwin on what became the subject of his book, The Voyage of the Beagle...
named the region "Port Darwin" in honour of their former shipmate Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, who had sailed with them on the ship's previous voyage
Second voyage of HMS Beagle
The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after her previous captain committed suicide...
which had ended in October 1836. The settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869, and was renamed Darwin in 1911.
Having been almost entirely rebuilt twice, once due to Japanese air raids during World War II, and again after being devastated by Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974...
in 1974, the city is one of Australia's most modern capitals.
History
The Aboriginal people of the LarrakiaLarrakia
Larrakia are the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Larrakia Country which includes the area in and around Darwin, Northern Territory in Australia...
language group are the first inhabitants of the greater Darwin area. They had trading routes with Southeast Asia (see Macassan contact with Australia
Macassan contact with Australia
Macassan or more correctly Makassar trepangers from the southwest corner of Sulawesi visited the coast of northern Australia for hundreds of years to process trepang : a marine invertebrate prized for its culinary and medicinal values in Chinese markets.These visits have left their mark on the...
), and imported goods from as far afield as South
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
and Western Australia. Established songlines
Songlines
Songlines, also called Dreaming tracks by Indigenous Australians within the animist indigenous belief system, are paths across the land which mark the route followed by localised 'creator-beings' during the Dreaming...
penetrated throughout the country, allowing stories and histories to be told and retold along the routes.
The Dutch visited Australia's northern coastline in the 1600s, and created the first European maps of the area. This accounts for the Dutch names in the area, such as Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land
The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...
and Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northeastern Australia. It is the homeland of, and is owned by, the Anindilyakwa people who speak the isolated Anindilyakwa language)....
.
The first British person to see Darwin harbour appears to have been Lieutenant John Lort Stokes
John Lort Stokes
Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN was an officer in the Royal Navy who travelled on HMS Beagle for close to eighteen years.Stokes grew up in Scotchwell near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. He joined the Navy on 20 September 1824...
of HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...
on 9 September 1839. The ship's captain, Commander John Clements Wickham
John Clements Wickham
John Clements Wickham was a naval officer, magistrate and administrator. He was a Lieutenant on HMS Beagle during her second survey mission from 1831 to 1836, which took the young naturalist Charles Darwin on what became the subject of his book, The Voyage of the Beagle...
, named the port after Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, the British naturalist who had sailed with them both on the earlier second expedition of the Beagle
Second voyage of HMS Beagle
The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after her previous captain committed suicide...
.
In the early 1870s Darwin felt the effects of a gold rush
Australian gold rushes
The Australian gold rush started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hammond Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir.Eight months later, gold was found in Victoria...
at Pine Creek
Pine Creek, Northern Territory
Pine Creek is a small town in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory, Australia. According to the 2001 Australian census 665 people live in Pine Creek, which is the fourth largest town between Darwin and Alice Springs....
after employees of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line
Australian Overland Telegraph Line
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a 3200 km telegraph line that connected Darwin with Port Augusta in South Australia. Completed in 1872 the Overland Telegraph Line allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. An additional section was added in 1877 with the...
found gold while digging holes for telegraph poles.
In early 1875 Darwin's European population had grown to approximately 300 because of the gold rush. On 17 February 1875 the SS Gothenburg
SS Gothenburg
The SS Gothenburg was a steamship that operated along the British and then later the Australian and New Zealand coastlines. In February 1875, she left Darwin, Australia en route to Adelaide when she encountered a cyclone-strength storm off the north Queensland coast. The ship was wrecked on the...
left Darwin en route for Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
. The approximately 88 passengers and 34 crew (surviving records vary) included government officials, circuit-court judges, Darwin residents taking their first furlough
Furlough
In the United States a furlough is a temporary unpaid leave of some employees due to special needs of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole...
and miners. While travelling south along the north Queensland coast, the Gothenburg encountered a cyclone-strength storm and was wrecked on a section of the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
. Only 22 men survived, while between 98 and 112 people perished. Many passengers who perished were Darwin residents and news of the tragedy severely affected the small community, which reportedly took several years to recover.
1900 to present
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
", settled and Vice Regally administered by the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
's colonial Province, "South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
", until its transfer to federal jurisdiction in 1911. On 5 February 1869, George Goyder
George Goyder
George Woodroffe Goyder was a surveyor in South Australia during the latter half of the nineteenth century....
, the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin. Goyder named the settlement Palmerston
Palmerston, Northern Territory
Palmerston is a planned satellite city of Darwin, the capital and largest city in Australia's Northern Territory. Palmerston is situated near Darwin Harbour and has an urban population of 23,614 on the 2006 Census night and making it the second largest city in the territory...
, after the British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Lord Palmerston. In 1870, the first poles for the Overland Telegraph
Australian Overland Telegraph Line
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a 3200 km telegraph line that connected Darwin with Port Augusta in South Australia. Completed in 1872 the Overland Telegraph Line allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. An additional section was added in 1877 with the...
were erected in Darwin, connecting Australia to the rest of the world. The discovery of gold at Pine Creek
Pine Creek, Northern Territory
Pine Creek is a small town in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory, Australia. According to the 2001 Australian census 665 people live in Pine Creek, which is the fourth largest town between Darwin and Alice Springs....
in the 1880s further boosted the young colony's development. On transfer to federal administration in 1911, Darwin became the city's official name.
The period between 1911 and 1919 was filled with political turmoil, particularly with trade union unrest, which culminated on 17 December 1918. Led by Harold Nelson
Harold Nelson (Australian politician)
Harold George Nelson was the inaugural member for the Northern Territory in the Australian House of Representatives....
, some 1000 demonstrators marched to Government House
Government House, Darwin
Government House, Darwin is the office and official residence of the Administrator of the Northern Territory. Built between 1870 and 1878, the building is set on 13,000 square metres of hillside gardens in the centre of the Darwin business district, on The Esplanade.-History:Government House is...
at Liberty Square in Darwin where they burnt an effigy
Effigy
An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...
of the Administrator of the Northern Territory
Administrator of the Northern Territory
The Administrator of the Northern Territory is an official appointed by the Governor-General of Australia to exercise powers analogous to that of a state governor...
John Gilruth
John A. Gilruth
John Anderson Gilruth was a veterinary scientist and administrator. He is particularly noted for being Administrator of the Northern Territory from 1912 to 1918, when he was recalled after an angry mob demanded that he resign...
and demanded his resignation. The incident became known as the 'Darwin Rebellion
Darwin Rebellion
The Darwin Rebellion of 17 December 1918 was the culmination of unrest in the Australian Workers' Union which had grown between 1911 and 1919. Led by Harold Nelson, some 1000 demonstrators marched on Government House at Liberty Square in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia where they burnt an...
'. Their grievances were against the two main Northern Territory employers: Vestey’s Meatworks
Vestey Group
The Vestey Group is a privately owned UK group of companies, comprising an international food product business and significant cattle ranching and sugar cane farming interests in Brazil and Venezuela.-Business origins:William...
and the federal government. Both Gilruth and the Vestey company left Darwin soon afterwards.
Around 10,000 Allied troops arrived in Darwin in the early 1940s at the outset of World War II, in order to defend Australia's northern coastline. On 19 February 1942 at 0957, 188 Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
warplanes attacked Darwin in two waves. It was the same fleet that had bombed Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, though a considerably larger number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than on Pearl Harbor. The attack killed at least 243 people and caused immense damage to the town. These were by far the most serious attacks on Australia in time of war, in terms of fatalities and damage. They were the first of many raids on Darwin.
Despite this major attack, Darwin's development was furthered considerably during the war, with sealed roads constructed connecting the region to Alice Springs
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
in the south and Mount Isa
Mount Isa, Queensland
-Culture and sport:The local theatre group, the Mount Isa Theatrical Society, or MITS, often holds plays and musicals, at least once every few months or so....
in the south-east, and Manton Dam built in the south to provide the city with water. On Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
(26 January) 1959, Darwin was granted city status.
On 25 December 1974 Darwin was struck by Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974...
, which killed 71 people and destroyed over 70% of the town's buildings, including many old stone buildings such as the Palmerston Town Hall, which could not withstand the lateral forces generated by the strong winds. After the disaster, 30,000 people of a then population of 43,000 were evacuated, in what turned out to be the biggest airlift in Australia's history. The town was subsequently rebuilt with newer materials and techniques during the late 1970s by the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, led by former Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
Lord Mayor Clem Jones
Clem Jones
Clem Jones AO a surveyor by profession, was the longest serving Lord Mayor of the city of Brisbane, Australia, representing the Australian Labor Party from 1961 to 1975.-Public life:...
. A satellite city of Palmerston
Palmerston, Northern Territory
Palmerston is a planned satellite city of Darwin, the capital and largest city in Australia's Northern Territory. Palmerston is situated near Darwin Harbour and has an urban population of 23,614 on the 2006 Census night and making it the second largest city in the territory...
was built 20 km (12.4 mi) south of Darwin in the early 1980s.
On 17 September 2003 the Adelaide-Darwin railway
Adelaide-Darwin railway
The Adelaide–Darwin railway is a north-south transcontinental railway in Australia, between the cities of Adelaide, South Australia and Darwin, Northern Territory...
was completed, with the opening of the Alice Springs-Darwin standard gauge line.
Geography
Timor Sea
The Timor Sea is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, to the south by Australia and to the west by the Indian Ocean....
. The town proper is built on a low bluff overlooking Darwin harbour, flanked by Frances Bay to the east and Cullen Bay to the west. The remainder of the city is flat and low-lying, and coastal areas are home to recreational reserves, extensive beaches, and excellent fishing.
Darwin is closer to the capitals of five other countries than to the capital of Australia: Darwin is 3137 kilometres (1,949 mi) away from Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. Dili
Dili
Dili, spelled Díli in Portuguese, is the capital, largest city, chief port and commercial centre of East Timor.-Geography and Administration:Dili lies on the northern coast of Timor island, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands....
(East Timor) is 656 km (408 mi), Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
(Papua New Guinea) is 1818 km (1,130 mi), Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
(Indonesia) is 2700 km (1,678 mi), Bandar Seri Begawan
Bandar Seri Begawan
Bandar Seri Begawan, with an estimated population 140,000 , is the capital and largest city of the Sultanate of Brunei...
(Brunei) is 2607 km (1,620 mi), and Melekeok
Melekeok
Melekeok is a town in the State of Melekeok . It is located on the east coast of Palau's largest island, Babeldaob...
(Palau) is 2247 km (1,396 mi) from Darwin.
Even Singapore is only slightly farther away at 3350 km (2,082 mi), as is Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
(Philippines) at 3206 km (1,992 mi), and Honiara
Honiara
Honiara, population 49,107 , 78,190 , is the capital of the Solomon Islands and of Guadalcanal Province, although it is a separately administered town...
(Solomon Islands) at 3198 km (1,987 mi). Ambon
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of , and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of 2 territories: The main city and seaport is Ambon , which is also the capital of Maluku province and Maluku Tengah Ambon Island is part of the...
, Indonesia, is only 881 km (547 mi) away from Darwin.
Along with its importance as a gateway to Asia, Darwin also acts as an access point for the Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin.Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of , extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres...
, Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land
The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...
, and northerly islands such as Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northeastern Australia. It is the homeland of, and is owned by, the Anindilyakwa people who speak the isolated Anindilyakwa language)....
and the Tiwi Islands
Tiwi Islands
The Tiwi Islands are part of Australia's Northern Territory, north of Darwin where the Arafura Sea joins the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island and Bathurst Island, with a combined area of ....
. The city is the largest in the area, and provides services for these remote settlements.
City and suburbs
Darwin and its suburbs spread in an approximately triangular shape, with the older south-western suburbs—and the city itself—forming one corner, the newer northern suburbs in another, and the eastern suburbs, progressing towards Palmerston, forming the third.
The older part of Darwin is separated from the newer northern suburbs by Darwin International Airport
Darwin International Airport
Darwin International Airport is the busiest airport serving the Northern Territory and the tenth busiest airport in Australia. It is the only airport serving Darwin....
and Royal Australian Air Force Base. Palmerston
Palmerston, Northern Territory
Palmerston is a planned satellite city of Darwin, the capital and largest city in Australia's Northern Territory. Palmerston is situated near Darwin Harbour and has an urban population of 23,614 on the 2006 Census night and making it the second largest city in the territory...
is a satellite city 20 km (12.4 mi) south of Darwin that was established in the 1980s and is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Australia. The rural areas of Darwin including Howard Springs
Howard Springs, Northern Territory
Howard Springs is an outer rural area of Darwin. It is 29km SE of the Darwin CBD. Its Local Government Area is the Litchfield Municipality. The suburb is mostly a rural area, but has been experiencing strong growth in population and development. Settlement of the suburb began in 1864. In 1939,...
, Humpty Doo
Humpty Doo, Northern Territory
Humpty Doo is a small town in Australia's Northern Territory, situated just south of the Arnhem Highway, approximately 40 km from Darwin. At the 2006 census, Humpty Doo had a population of 5,413....
and Berry Springs
Berry Springs, Northern Territory
Berry Springs is an outer suburban area in Darwin. The name "Berry Springs" derived from "Berry Creek", named by Goyder in 1870, after his Chief Draftsman, Edwin S Berry....
are experiencing strong growth.
Darwin's central business district is bounded by Daly Street in the north-west, McMinn Street in the north-east, Mitchell Street on the south-west and Bennett Street on the south-east. The CBD has been the focus of a number of major projects, including the billion dollar redevelopment of the Stokes Hill wharf waterfront area including a convention centre with seating for 1500 people and approximately 4000 square metres (43,055.6 sq ft) of exhibition space. The development will also include hotels, residential apartments and public space.
The city's main industrial areas are along the Stuart Highway going towards Palmerston, centred on Winnellie
Winnellie, Northern Territory
Winnellie is a Northern suburb of Darwin, Northern Territory, in the Northern Territory of Australia.-History:Winnellie is an industrial suburb to the south of Darwin International Airport. The name came the 'Winnellie Camp' formed there by the Army in 1941...
. The largest shopping precinct in the area is Casuarina Square
Casuarina Square
Casuarina Square, the largest shopping centre in the Northern Territory, is located in Casuarina in Darwin's northern suburbs. The shopping centre is built to the building code for Tropical Cyclones, due to cyclones that sweep through the area such as Cyclone Tracy in 1974.Casuarina Square was...
.
The most expensive residential areas are located along the coast in suburbs such as Larrakeyah
Larrakeyah, Northern Territory
Larrakeyah is an inner suburb of Darwin, the capital city of Australia's Northern Territory.-History:Larrakeyah is named after the indigenous language group that occupied the area before European settlement, the Larrakia, who occupied much of the Darwin coastal area.Development of the suburb...
and Brinkin
Brinkin, Northern Territory
Brinkin is a northern suburb of Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. It is located north of Darwin's central business district, and is home to the Casuarina campus of Charles Darwin University .-History:Brinkin is named after an Aboriginal tribe who inhabited an area to...
, despite the slight risk these low-lying regions face during cyclones and higher tides. The inner northern suburbs of Millner
Millner, Northern Territory
Millner is a northern suburb in the city of Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia.-History:Millner was named after Dr James S. Millner, the medical officer in George W. Goyder's 1869 expedition to found the first colony at Port Darwin. He went on to serve as Protector of Aborigines until...
and Coconut Grove
Coconut Grove, Northern Territory
Coconut Grove is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It is in the Local Government Area of City of Darwin.-History:Coconut Grove is named for the grove of coconuts on the coastal fringe of the area...
and the eastern suburb of Karama
Karama, Northern Territory
Karama is a working class Northern suburb of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.-History:The suburb of Karama is named after an Aboriginal tribe....
are home to lower-income households, although low-income Territory Housing units are scattered throughout the metropolitan area.
Climate
Tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories "Aw" and '"As."...
(Köppen Awgi
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
) with distinct wet and dry seasons and the average maximum temperature is similar all year round. The dry season
Dry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
runs from April/May to October (the southern hemisphere winter), during which nearly every day is warm and sunny, and afternoon humidity averages around 30%.
There is very little rainfall between May and September. In the coolest months of June and July, the daily minimum temperature may dip as low as 14 °C (57.2 °F), but very rarely lower, and frost has never been recorded.
The wet season is associated with tropical cyclone
Tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor...
s and monsoon rains. The majority of rainfall occurs between December and March (the southern hemisphere summer), when thunderstorms are common and afternoon relative humidity averages over 70 per cent during the wettest months. It does not rain every day during the wet season, but most days are warm to hot with plentiful cloud cover; January averages under 6 hours of bright sunshine daily. Darwin's highest Bureau of Meteorology verified daily rainfall total is 367.6 mm, which fell when Cyclone Carlos bore down on the Darwin area on 16 February 2011
The hottest month is November, just before the onset of the main rainy season. Because of its long dry season, Darwin has the most daily average sunshine hours (8.4) of any Australian capital with the most sunshine from April to November. The sun passes directly overhead in mid October and mid February.
Climatically Darwin has more in common with Singapore than Sydney because it sits well inside the tropical zone.
Darwin is located in one of the most lightning-prone areas in the world. On 31 January 2002, an early morning squall line
Squall line
A squall line is a line of severe thunderstorms that can form along or ahead of a cold front. In the early 20th century, the term was used as a synonym for cold front. It contains heavy precipitation, hail, frequent lightning, strong straight-line winds, and possibly tornadoes and waterspouts....
produced over 5,000 cloud to ground lightning strikes within a 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) radius of Darwin alone which is about 3 times the amount of lightning that Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, experiences on average in an entire year.
Demographics
| Major overseas born populations | |
| Country of birth | Population (2006) |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 4,356 |
| New Zealand | 2,177 |
| Philippines | 1,462 |
| East Timor | 1,000 |
| Italy | 973 |
| Greece | 893 |
| Indonesia | 691 |
| Germany | 609 |
| Papua New Guinea | 488 |
| Malaysia | 486 |
| Vietnam | 473 |
| India | 470 |
| Thailand | 424 |
In 2006, the largest ancestry groups in Darwin were, Australian (42,221 or 36.9 per cent), English (29,766 or 26 per cent), Irish (9,561 or 8.3 per cent), Scottish (7,815 or 6.8 per cent), Chinese (3,502 or 3 per cent), Greek (2,828 or 2.4 per cent) and Italian (2,367 or 2 per cent)
Darwin's population is notable for the highest proportional population of Aborigines
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
of any Australian capital city. In the 2006 census 10,259 (9.7 per cent) of Darwin's population was Aboriginal.
Darwin's population changed after the Second World War. Darwin, like many other Australian cities, experienced influxes from Europe, with significant numbers of Italians and Greeks during the 1960s and 1970s. Darwin also started to experience an influx from other European countries, which included the Dutch, Germans and many others. A significant percentage of Darwin's residents are recent immigrants from South East Asia (Asian Australian
Asian Australian
An Asian Australian can be generally defined as a person of Asian ancestry who was born in or is an immigrant to Australia.There is no agreed definition of who an Asian Australian is, although for the purposes of aggregating data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its Australian Standard...
s were 9.3% of Darwin's population in 2001).
Darwin's population comprises people from many ethnic backgrounds. The 2006 Census revealed that the most common places of birth for overseas migrants were the United Kingdom (3.4 per cent), New Zealand (2.1 per cent), the Philippines (1.4 per cent) and East Timor (0.9 per cent). 18.3 percent of the city's population was born overseas, which is less than the Australian average of 22%
Darwin has a youthful population with an average age of 32 years (compared to the national average of around 35 years) assisted to a large extent by the military presence and the fact that many people opt to retire elsewhere.
The most common languages spoken in Darwin after English are Greek, Italian, Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
, Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
and Cantonese.
Religion
Christianity is the most professed faith in Darwin with 56,613 followers accounting for 49.5 per cent of the population of the city. The largest denominations of Christianity are Roman Catholicism (24,538 or 21.5 per cent), AnglicanismAnglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
(14,028 or 12.3 per cent) and Greek Orthodox (2,964 or 2.6 per cent). Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Jews account for 3.2 per cent of Darwin's population. There were 26,695 or 23.3 per cent of people professing no religion.
Population growth
Darwin is one of the fastest growing capital cities in Australia, with an annual growth rate of 2.6 per cent since the 2006 census. In recent years, the PalmerstonCity of Palmerston
The City of Palmerston is a Local Government Area of the Northern Territory. It contains the suburbs of Darwin's satellite city, Palmerston, and is situated between the outer industrial areas of Darwin and the rural areas of Howard Springs. The City covers an area of 56.3 km² and has a...
and Litchfield
Shire of Litchfield
The Litchfield Municipality is a Local Government Area located in the Northern Territory of Australia on the eastern and southeastern outskirts of the Darwin-Palmerston urban area...
parts of the Darwin statistical division have recorded the highest growth in population of any Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
Local Government Area
Local Government Area
A local government area is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory....
and by 2016 Litchfield
Shire of Litchfield
The Litchfield Municipality is a Local Government Area located in the Northern Territory of Australia on the eastern and southeastern outskirts of the Darwin-Palmerston urban area...
could overtake Palmerston
City of Palmerston
The City of Palmerston is a Local Government Area of the Northern Territory. It contains the suburbs of Darwin's satellite city, Palmerston, and is situated between the outer industrial areas of Darwin and the rural areas of Howard Springs. The City covers an area of 56.3 km² and has a...
as the second largest municipality in metropolitan Darwin. It is predicted by 2021 that the combined population of both Palmerston
City of Palmerston
The City of Palmerston is a Local Government Area of the Northern Territory. It contains the suburbs of Darwin's satellite city, Palmerston, and is situated between the outer industrial areas of Darwin and the rural areas of Howard Springs. The City covers an area of 56.3 km² and has a...
and Litchfield
Shire of Litchfield
The Litchfield Municipality is a Local Government Area located in the Northern Territory of Australia on the eastern and southeastern outskirts of the Darwin-Palmerston urban area...
would be 101,546 people.
Law and government
The Darwin City CouncilCity of Darwin
The City of Darwin is a Local Government Area of the Northern Territory, Australia. It includes the central business district of the capital, Darwin, and represents two-thirds of its metropolitan population. The City covers an area of 112 km² and has a estimated population of 75,908...
(Incorporated under the Northern Territory Local Government Act 1993) governs the City of Darwin
City of Darwin
The City of Darwin is a Local Government Area of the Northern Territory, Australia. It includes the central business district of the capital, Darwin, and represents two-thirds of its metropolitan population. The City covers an area of 112 km² and has a estimated population of 75,908...
which takes in the CBD and the suburbs. The Darwin City Council has governed the City of Darwin since 1957. The Darwin City Council consists of 13 elected members, the Lord Mayor
Lord Mayor
The Lord Mayor is the title of the Mayor of a major city, with special recognition.-Commonwealth of Nations:* In Australia it is a political position. Australian cities with Lord Mayors: Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong...
and 12 aldermen.
The City of Darwin electorate is organised into four electoral units or wards. The names of the wards are Chan, Lyons, Richardson, and Waters. The constituents of each ward are directly responsible for electing three aldermen. Constituents of all wards are directly responsible for electing the Lord Mayor of Darwin. The current mayor is Graeme Sawyer
Graeme Sawyer
Graeme Sawyer is the current Lord Mayor of the City of Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, Australia. He became Lord Mayor at an election in April 2008, when he won 56.8% of the vote after preferences.- References :...
after council elections in March 2008 replacing Garry Lambert
Garry Lambert
Garry Lambert is an Australian politician. He was the Lord Mayor of Darwin from 2007 to 2008. He was the unsuccessful Country Liberal Party candidate for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly seat of Fannie Bay in the 2008 election....
, who took over from previous mayor Peter Adamson
Peter Adamson (politician)
Peter Francis Adamson is a former Australian politician. He was educated at private schools, and then at the University of Sydney, where he graduated in with a bachelor of Arts, majoring in Politics...
.
The rest of the Darwin area is divided into 2 local government areas
Local Government Areas of the Northern Territory
The local government areas of the Northern Territory, Australia are the areas for which particular Local Government authorities, generally known as "Councils" have the responsibility to provide local government services...
. One of these is designated as a City, and the second, which is on the city's outer fringe, has the title of Shire. These areas have elected councils which are responsible for functions delegated to them by the Northern Territory Government, such as planning and garbage collection.
The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral parliament of the Northern Territory in Australia. It sits in Parliament House, located on State Square, close to the centre of the city of Darwin.-History:...
convenes in Darwin in the Northern Territory Parliament House
Parliament House, Darwin
Parliament House in Darwin is Australia's newest Parliament Building, it has been the seat of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 1994. Parliament House is located on State Square in the centre of Darwin, which is also the administrative centre of the Northern Territory law and...
. Government House
Government House, Darwin
Government House, Darwin is the office and official residence of the Administrator of the Northern Territory. Built between 1870 and 1878, the building is set on 13,000 square metres of hillside gardens in the centre of the Darwin business district, on The Esplanade.-History:Government House is...
, the official residence of the Administrator of the Northern Territory
Administrator of the Northern Territory
The Administrator of the Northern Territory is an official appointed by the Governor-General of Australia to exercise powers analogous to that of a state governor...
, is located on The Esplanade.
Also located on the Esplanade is the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. Darwin has a Magistrate's Court also which is located on the corner of Cavenagh and Bennett Streets quite close to the Darwin City Council Chambers.
Darwin's police force are members of the Northern Territory Police
Northern Territory Police
The Northern Territory Police is the police body that has legal jurisdiction over the Northern Territory of Australia. This police service has 1302 gazetted police positions made up of 55 Senior Sergeants, 200 Sergeants, 741 Constables, 159 Auxiliaries, and 84 Aboriginal Community Police Officers...
Force. Darwin's Mitchell Street, with its numerous pubs, clubs and other entertainment venues, is policed by the CitySafe Unit. The CitySafe unit was recently credited with reducing violent crime in and around Darwin City. Darwin has a long record of alcohol abuse and violent crime with 6000 assaults in 2009, of which 350 resulted in broken jaws and noses – more than anywhere else in the world, according to the Royal Darwin Hospital.
Economy
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
, along with manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
and many others. The energy production is mostly off shore with oil and natural gas from the Timor Sea, although there are significant uranium deposits near Darwin. Tourism employs 8% of Darwin residents, and is expected to grow as domestic and international tourists are now spending time in Darwin during the Wet
Wet season
The the wet season, or rainy season, is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region occurs. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the...
and Dry
Dry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
seasons. Federal spending is a major contributor to the local economy as well.
The military presence that is maintained both within Darwin, and the wider Northern Territory, is a substantial source of employment. The continued involvement of the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
in the stabilisation of East Timor has swelled the military population of Darwin to over 11,000 individuals as of 2001. There is also a substantial United Nations presence in Darwin, since Darwin serves as the staging center for UN workers and contractors en route to nearby East Timor.
Darwin's importance as a port is expected to grow, due to the increased exploitation of petroleum in the nearby Timor Sea, and to the completion of the railway link and continued expansion in trade with Asia.
During 2005, a number of major construction projects started in Darwin. One is the redevelopment of the Wharf Precinct, which includes a large convention and exhibition centre, apartment housing including Outrigger Pandanas
Outrigger Pandanas
Outrigger Pandanas is the second-tallest building in Darwin. It is at 43 Knuckey Street, in the eastern side of the Darwin central business district. Built from 2006 to 2007 with the Pandanas Office Suite being completed by 2009, its roof is 91m above ground...
and Evolution on Gardiner
Evolution on Gardiner
Evolution on Gardiner is the tallest building in Darwin. It is located on the eastern part of the Darwin CBD on Knuckey Street. The roof of the tower is 100 metres above ground, reaching Darwin's maximum height limit of 120 meters above sea level...
, retail and entertainment outlets including a large wave pool and safe swimming lagoon. The Chinatown project has also started with plans to construct multi-level carparks, Chinese-themed retail and dining outlets.
Education
Education is overseen territory-wide by the Department of Education and Training (DET), whose role is to continually improve education outcomes for all students, with a focus on Indigenous students.
Preschool, primary and secondary
Darwin is served by a number of public and private schools that cater to local and overseas students. Over 16,500 primary and secondary students are enrolled in schools in Darwin, with 10,524 students attending primary education, and 5,932 students attending secondary education. There are over 12,089 students enrolled in government schools and 2,124 students enrolled in independent schools.There were 9,764 students attending schools in the City of Darwin
City of Darwin
The City of Darwin is a Local Government Area of the Northern Territory, Australia. It includes the central business district of the capital, Darwin, and represents two-thirds of its metropolitan population. The City covers an area of 112 km² and has a estimated population of 75,908...
area. 6,045 students attended primary schools and 3,719 students attended secondary schools. There are over 7,161 students enrolled in government schools and 1,108 students enrolled in independent schools. There are over 35 primary and pre – schools, and 12 secondary schools including both government and non-government. Most schools in the city are secular, but there are a small number of Christian, Catholic and Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
institutions. Students intending to complete their secondary education work towards the Northern Territory Certificate of Education
Northern Territory Certificate of Education
The Northern Territory Certificate of Education is the credential awarded to High School students who successfully complete senior high school level studies in the Northern Territory, Australia.-The NTCE structure:...
, which is recognised in all states and territories. Many of the schools are undergoing renovations and reconstruction. Schools have been restructured into Primary, Middle and High schools since the beginning of 2007.
Tertiary and vocational
Darwin's largest University is the Charles Darwin UniversityCharles Darwin University
Charles Darwin University is an Australian public university with about 20,000 students in 2007.The University offers a wide range of Higher Education degrees and Vocational Education and Training courses with flexible study options, including part-time, external and online.CDU has campuses in the...
which is the central provider of tertiary education in the Northern Territory, it covers both vocational and academic courses, acting as both a university and an Institute of TAFE
Technical and Further Education
In Australia, training and further education or TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational tertiary education courses, mostly qualifying courses under the National Training System/Australian Qualifications Framework/Australian Quality Training Framework...
. There are over 5,500 students enrolled in tertiary and further education courses.
Events and festivals
On 1 July, Territorians celebrate Territory Day. This is the only day of the year, apart from the Chinese New Year, when fireworks are permitted. In Darwin, the main celebrations occur at Mindil BeachMindil Beach, Northern Territory
Mindil Beach is a beach located near the Darwin's central business district. Mindil Beach holds the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets which runs during the Dry season of every year.-Events:...
, where a large firework display is commissioned by the government.
Weekly markets include Mindil Beach Sunset Markets (Thursdays and Sundays during the dry season), Parap Market
Parap, Northern Territory
Parap is an inner suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.-History:Parap derived its name from that applied by Dr John A Gilruth, first Commonwealth Administrator in 1912. He applied the name Paraparap , but had to abbreviate it to Parap later during his term...
, Nightcliff Market and Rapid Creek market
Rapid Creek, Northern Territory
Rapid Creek is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.- History :Although the precise circumstances of the naming of Rapid Creek remain obscure, the name must have been applied by Surveyor-General George W. Goyder's surveyors not long after the arrival of the 1869...
. Mindil Beach Sunset Markets are very popular with locals and tourists alike and feature food, souvenirs, clothes and local performing artists.
The Darwin Festival held annually, includes comedy, dance, theatre, music, film and visual art and the NT Indigenous Music Awards
NT Indigenous Music Awards
NT Indigenous Music Awards are part of the Darwin Festival and are run by Music NT in association with the Northern Territory Government’s Indigenous Arts Development Unit.-Awards:...
. Other festivals include the Glenti, which showcases Darwin's large Greek community, and India@Mindil, a similar festival held by the smaller Indian community. The Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
is also celebrated with great festivity, highlighting the Asian influence in Darwin.
The Seabreeze festival, which first started in 2005, is held on the second week of May in the suburb of Nightcliff. It offers the opportunity for local talent to be showcased and a popular event is Saturday family festivities along the Nightcliff foreshore which is one of Darwin's most popular fitness tracks.
The Speargrass Festival is held annually the week prior to July's first full moon and celebrates the alternative Top End
Top End
The Top End of northern Australia is the second northernmost point on the continent. It covers a rather vaguely-defined area of perhaps 400,000 square kilometres behind the northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to Arnhem Land with the Indian Ocean on the west, the...
lifestyle. The festival activities include music, screening of locally produced films, screen printing, basket weaving, sweat lodge, water slides, human pyramid, hot tub, frisbee golf, spear throwing, Kubb competition, bingo, communal organic cooking, morning yoga, meditation, greasy pig and healing circles. The festival occurs at the Speargrass property, 50 km (31.1 mi) northeast of Pine Creek.
The Darwin beer-can regatta
Darwin beer-can regatta
The Darwin Beer Can Regatta is an event which has been held annually since 1974 in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia at Mindil Beach. Participants create boats using empty beer cans, soft drink cans, soft drink bottle and milk cartons. The vessels are not tested for seaworthiness, prior to...
, held in August, celebrates Darwin's love affair with beer and contestants' race boats made exclusively of beer cans. Also in Darwin during the month of August, are the Darwin Cup horse race, and the Rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
and Mud Crab
Scylla serrata
Scylla serrata is an economically important crab species found in the estuaries and mangroves of Africa, Australia and Asia. In their most common form, the shell colour varies from a deep, mottled green to very dark brown...
Tying Competition.
The World Solar Challenge
World Solar Challenge
The World Solar Challenge is a solar-powered car race which covers through the Australian Outback, from Darwin to Adelaide.The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations although some are fielded by high schools...
race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 20-year history spanning nine races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987.
Arts and entertainment
Darwin Symphony Orchestra
The Darwin Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, founded by Martin Jarvis.The DSO gave its first concert in 1989. The orchestra receives funding from the Northern Territory Government and support from private corporations and donors including Charles...
was first assembled in 1989, and has performed throughout the Territory. The Darwin Theatre Company is a locally produced professional theatre production company, performing locally and nationally.
The Darwin Entertainment Centre
Darwin Entertainment Centre
The Darwin Entertainment Centre is the city's main concert venue and hosts theatre and orchestral performances in Darwin, Australia. The centre is located in the Heart of Darwin's central business district...
is the city's main concert venue and hosts theatre and orchestral performances. Other theatres include the Darwin Convention Centre
Darwin Convention Centre
The Darwin Convention Centre is a convention centre located in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Construction started on the convention centre in early 2006 and completed in June 2008, with the centre opening in July of that year...
, opened in July 2008. The Darwin Convention Centre is part of the $1.1 billion Darwin Waterfront project.
Darwin's only casino opened in 1981 as the Diamond Beach Casino, it later became the MGM Grand Darwin, before it changed to Skycity Darwin
SKYCITY Darwin
SKYCITY Darwin is a casino located in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It is the only casino in Darwin.- History :The casino was originally granted a licence in 1979 and opened at its current premises in 1983. Until 2004 it was known as the MGM Grand Darwin. The SKYCITY Entertainment Group...
after Skycity Entertainment Group
SKYCITY Entertainment Group
Skycity Entertainment Group is a New Zealand corporation whose core business is owning and operating casinos in Australasia. It is the smallest of four major players operating in the market....
purchased the hotel in 2004.
Darwin is home to the Indo-Pacific Marine & Australian Pearling Exhibition, which houses an aquarium with living coral and complementary sea life. The Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory is the main museum in the Northern Territory. The museum is located in the inner Darwin suburb of Fannie Bay...
in Darwin gives an overview of the history of the area, including exhibits on Cyclone Tracy and the boats of the Pacific Islands. The East Point Military museum
East Point Military museum
The Darwin Military Museum was originally established as an artillery museum by the Royal Australian Artillery Association Inc to exhibit photographs and artefacts from Darwin's history during World War II. The Museum now has a large exhibits of items from the war, including Navy, Army and Air...
tells the story of the Japanese air raids on Darwin during WWII.
The Darwin Festival and the Darwin Fringe festival are annual events. A range of art galleries including specialised Aboriginal art galleries are a feature of Darwin.
Local and visiting musical bands can be heard at venues including the Darwin Entertainment Centre
Darwin Entertainment Centre
The Darwin Entertainment Centre is the city's main concert venue and hosts theatre and orchestral performances in Darwin, Australia. The centre is located in the Heart of Darwin's central business district...
, The Vic Hotel
Victoria Hotel, Darwin
The Victoria Hotel, or The Vic as it is commonly known, is a heritage listed pub located in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Built in 1890, it is an important historical building and tourist attraction of inner Darwin.- History :...
, Happy Yess, and Brown's Mart. An yearly music festival, Bass in the Grass, is very popular with youth from the surrounding area. Artists such as Jessica Mauboy
Jessica Mauboy
Jessica Hilda Mauboy , is an Indigenous Australian R&B singer-songwriter and actress. In 2006, Mauboy was the runner-up on the fourth season of Australian Idol, she had auditioned for the talent show in Alice Springs to pursue a recording career...
and The Groovesmiths
The Groovesmiths
-Demonstrations Of Intent:The band's debut EP features 5 original songs, written by Gavin Shoesmith.# "Bushranger" – 3:51# "Lonely" – 4:05# "Rebirth" – 5:04# "Viva La Revolution" – 3:33# "Oh The Sun Is Shining" – 4:35...
call Darwin home.
There have been no major films set in Darwin; however, some scenes for Australia
Australia (2008 film)
Australia is a 2008 epic historical romance film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. It is the second-highest grossing Australian film of all time, behind Crocodile Dundee. The screenplay was written by Luhrmann and screenwriter Stuart Beattie, with Ronald Harwood...
by Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
and Black Water
Black Water (film)
Black Water is a 2007 Australian horror/thriller film set in the mangrove seas of northern Australia. It was written and directed by Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich and stars Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody and Andy Rodoreda...
were both shot in Darwin in 2007
Mitchell Street in the central business district is lined with nightclubs, takeaways, and restaurants. This is the city's entertainment hub. There are several smaller theatres, three cinema complexes (CBD, Casuarina, and Palmerston), and the Deckchair Cinema. This is an open-air cinema which operates through the dry season, from April to October, and screens independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
and arthouse films.
Recreation
Casuarina Beach
Casuarina Beach is in Karainagar, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka, about 20 kilometers from Jaffna. The Casuarina Beach in Karainagar is also called and written as Casoorina, Cashoorina and few other variants. This is said to be the best beach in the Jaffna Peninsula...
and well renowned Mindil Beach, home of the Mindil Beach markets. Darwin City Council has designated an area of Casuarina Beach as a free beach which offers a designated nudist beach area since 1976.
Swimming in the sea during the months of October–May should be avoided due to the presence of deadly box jellyfish
Box jellyfish
Box jellyfish are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their cube-shaped medusae. Box jellyfish are known for the extremely potent venom produced by some species: Chironex fleckeri, Carukia barnesi and Malo kingi are among the most venomous creatures in the world...
, known locally as stingers.
Saltwater crocodile
Saltwater Crocodile
The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...
s are very common in all waterways surrounding Darwin and are even occasionally found swimming in Darwin Harbour and on local beaches.
Fishing is one of the recreations of Darwin locals. Visitors from around the world flock to Darwin aiming to catch the prized barramundi
Barramundi
The Barramundi , also known as Asian Seabass, is a species of catadromous fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. The native species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region from the Persian Gulf, through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and Northern Australia. Known in Thai...
, an iconic fish for the region. The Mary River
Mary River (Northern Territory)
The Mary River flows in the Northern Territory of Australia and is a site of the Mary River National Park. Its lower reaches form part of the Adelaide and Mary River Floodplains Important Bird Area.-External links:**...
, Daly River, South and East Alligator River are just a few of the water bodies where the barramundi thrive.
Blue-water fishing is also available off the coast of Darwin; Spanish mackerel
Spanish mackerel
Spanish mackerel may refer to:* Chloroscombrus chrysurus* Elagatis bipinnulata* Schedophilus maculatus* Scomber japonicus* Scomberomorus brasiliensis* Scomberomorus cavalla* Scomberomorus commerson* Scomberomorus guttatus...
, Black Jewfish, queenfish
Queenfish
Queenfish are a species of croaker occurring from Uncle Sam Bank, Baja California, to Yaquina Bay, Oregon; they are the only species in the genus Seriphus. They are common during summer in shallow water around pier pilings on sandy bottoms. They are found at depths up to 180 feet; however, occur...
, snapper and other varieties are all found in the area and accessible in a day trip from Darwin. Lake Alexander
Lake Alexander
Lake Alexander is a man-made lake named in honour of Alec Fong Lim who was Lord Mayor of Darwin from1984 to 1990. The lake is located in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia and was officially opened on the 21 July 1991 for recreational use by the people of Darwin....
is a man-made lake which is generally considered safe, bar a freak jellyfish outbreak in 2003, and is located at East Point Reserve.
The Darwin Surf Lifesaving Club operates long boats and surf skis and provides events and lifesaving accreditations.
Parks and gardens
Darwin has extensive parks and gardens. These include the George Brown Darwin Botanic GardensGeorge Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens
The George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens are botanical gardens located 2 km North of the CBD of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The gardens cover 42 hectares and are noted for their collections of north Australian and other tropical species....
, East Point Reserve
East Point, Northern Territory
East Point is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.East Point, Lee Point and Point Charles all appear on Goyder’s original plan of Port Darwin in 1869. This point, the easterly extremity of the entrance to Darwin Harbour has been used for a variety of purposes...
, Casuarina Coastal Reserve, Charles Darwin National Park
Charles Darwin National Park
Charles Darwin National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 4 km southeast of Darwin. It is notable for its World War II–era concrete bunkers, one of which has been converted into a visitors centre and display of World War II memorabilia. It also has lookouts towards the city of...
, Knuckey Lagoons Conservation Reserve
Knuckey Lagoons Conservation Reserve
Knuckey Lagoons Conservation Reserve is a small conservation reserve wetland located on the outskirts of Darwin and Palmerston in the Northern Territory....
, Leanyer Recreation Park, the Nightcliff
Nightcliff, Northern Territory
Nightcliff is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.-History:Although the origin of the name Nightcliff has always been surrounded by conjecture and controversy, the naming can be tracked back to 8 September 1839...
Foreshore, Bicentennial Park
Bicentennial Park (Darwin)
Bicentennial Park is a large area of parkland located in the Darwin city centre, Darwin, Northern Territory. It runs the length of Darwin's waterfront which looks over Darwin Harbour...
and the Jingili Water Gardens.
Sports
The Marrara Sports Complex near the airport has stadiums for Aussie RulesAustralian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
(TIO Stadium), cricket, rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, basketball (and indoor court sports), soccer, athletics and field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
. Every two years since 1991 (excluding 2003 due to the SARS outbreak), Darwin has played host to the Arafura Games
Arafura Games
The Arafura Games is a Multi-sport event held every 2 years in the Australian city of Darwin, in the Northern Territory. It is an international event which draws its competitors from around the world. First held in 1991, the most recent Games, held in 2009, involved over 30 nations and over 3,000...
, a major regional sporting event
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
. In July 2003, the city hosted its first international test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
match between Australia and Bangladesh, followed by Australia and Sri Lanka in 2004.
Australian-rules football and rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
are played all year round. Melbourne's Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
side plays one home game at Marrara Oval each year. The ATSIC Aboriginal All-Stars also participate in the AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
pre-season competition. In 2003, a record crowd of 17,500 attended a pre-season game between the All-Stars and Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
at Marrara.
Darwin hosts a round of the V8 Supercars every year bringing thousands of motorsports fans to the Hidden Valley Raceway
Hidden Valley Raceway
Hidden Valley Raceway is part of the Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The race track is used as a round of the V8 Supercar series...
.
The Darwin Cup culminating on the first Monday of August is a very popular horse race event for Darwin and draws large crowds every year to Fannie Bay Racecourse. While it is not as popular as the Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
, it does draw a crowd and, in 2003, Sky Racing
Sky Racing
Sky Racing is an Australian horse and greyhound racing television channel. It is carried by Foxtel, Austar, Optus TV and Neighbourhood Cable. It was formerly available on SelecTV from 16 April 2007 until the closure of its English service in late 2010....
began televising most of the races. The Darwin Cup day is a public holiday for the Northern Territory (Picnic Day public holiday).
Media
Northern Territory News
The Northern Territory News is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Darwin, Australia. It is a subsidiary of News Limited, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. It primarily serves Darwin and the rest of the Northern Territory...
(Monday – Saturday), The Sunday Territorian (Sunday), and the national daily, The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
(Monday – Friday) and The Weekend Australian (Saturday), all published by News Limited
News Limited
News Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The publicly listed company's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, Pay TV, National Rugby League, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets.News Limited...
. Free weekly community newspapers include the Darwin Sun, the Litchfield Sun, and Palmerston Sun; all published by a News Limited subsidiary.
Five free-to-air channels service Darwin. Commercial television channels are provided by Southern Cross Darwin
TND
TND can mean multiple things:* Tomorrow Never Dies, James Bond 007 movie* Tunisian dinar, the ISO 4217 code for the currency of Tunisia* Traditional Neighborhood Development , a form of development associated with New Urbanism...
(Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
affiliate), Channel Nine Darwin (formerly branded as Channel 8) and Darwin Digital Television (Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
relay), which launched on 28 April 2008. The two Government owned national broadcast services in Darwin are the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
and SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
. Subscription Television (Pay TV) service Austar
Austar
Austar is an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity is Subscription Television but it is also involved with internet access and mobile phones...
is available via cable in the Darwin region.
Darwin has radio stations on both AM and FM frequencies. ABC stations include ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio is the radio service of ABC News, a division of the ABC Television Network. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Cumulus Media Networks, newscasts on the hour to its more than 2,000 affiliates...
(102.5FM), ABC Local Radio
105.7 ABC Darwin
105.7 ABC Darwin is an ABC radio station which is located in Darwin, Northern Territory. It is one of the stations in the ABC Local Radio network and broadcasts on 105.7MHz on the FM dial...
(105.7FM), ABC Radio National
Radio National
ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
(657AM), ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
(107.3FM) and Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
(103.3FM). SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
(102.5FM) also broadcasts its national radio network to Darwin.
Darwin has two commercial radio stations Hot 100
Hot 100 fm
Hot 100 is a radio station in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The station begin broadcasting on 1 July 1991 and has a relay in the remote town of Katherine...
and Mix 104.9
Mix 104.9
Mix 104.9 is a radio station in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It started broadcasting in 1997 as Hot 100 FM was the only commercial radio station before then and has a relay in the remote town of Katherine as well as relays in smaller communities such as Pine Creek, Adelaide River and...
. Other stations in Darwin include university-based station 104.1 Territory FM
104.1 Territory FM
104.1 Territory FM is a community radio station based in Darwin, Australia. Territory FM broadcasts a broad range of adult contemporary music from the Casuarina campus of Charles Darwin University...
, dance music station KIK FM
KIK FM
KIK FM is a dance music station located in Darwin, Australia broadcasting on the frequencies 91.5 MHz, 88 MHz, and online. The first broadcast went to air in 1995, focusing on the club culture of the world. In 2001 a few shows were picked up by the station, and the 5 PM Mix Massive time slot was born...
91.5, Italian language channel Rete Italia
Rete Italia
Rete Italia is an Italian language radio network broadcasting Australia-wide from Melbourne, Australia. The station is associated with Il Globo Newspaper.Their Sydney transmitter is in Victoria Avenue in Concord West, within the Bicentennial Park....
1611AM, community based stations includes Radio Larrakia
Radio Larrakia
Radio Larrakia is an Aboriginal community radio station in Darwin, Northern Territory with a broadcast range that reaches Jabiru....
94.5 and Yolngu Radio 1530AM and Rhema FM
Rhema FM
Rhema FM is the name of a number of Christian radio stations formerly affiliated with United Christian Broadcasters in Australia. Each is run and programmed locally, with predominantly local announcing...
97.7.
Health
The Government of the Northern TerritoryGovernment of the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is governed according to the principles of the Westminster system, a form of parliamentary government based on the model of the United Kingdom...
Department of Health and Families oversees one public hospital in the Darwin metropolitan region. The Royal Darwin Hospital
Royal Darwin Hospital
Royal Darwin Hospital is a 345-bed teaching hospital located in the northern suburbs of Darwin, Northern Territory.-History:The first hospital of the settlement of Palmerston was built in 1874. The hospital was built on Packard Street overlooking Doctors Gully under the authority of Dr James...
, located in Tiwi
Tiwi, Northern Territory
Tiwi is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The suburb it is bounded by Trower Road, Henbury Avenue and a costal strip, separating Casuarina Beach and Lee Point Beach. It is in the Local Government Area of City of Darwin...
, is the city's major teaching and referral hospital, and the largest in the Northern Territory.
There is one major private hospital Darwin Private Hospital located at Tiwi
Tiwi, Northern Territory
Tiwi is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The suburb it is bounded by Trower Road, Henbury Avenue and a costal strip, separating Casuarina Beach and Lee Point Beach. It is in the Local Government Area of City of Darwin...
, opposite the Royal Darwin Hospital.
Transport
The Territory's public transport services are managed by the Department of Lands and Planning, Public Transport Division. Darwin has an efficient and affordable bus network serviced by a range of contracted bus operators, which provides transport to the main suburbs of Darwin.Darwin has no commuter rail system, however long distance passenger rail services do operate out of the city. The Alice Springs to Darwin rail line was completed in 2003 linking Darwin to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
. The first service ran in 2004. The Ghan passenger train service from Adelaide via Alice Springs and Katherine runs two to three times per week depending on the season.
| The Ghan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | ↔ | Darwin | ↔ | Katherine Katherine, Northern Territory Katherine is a town situated southeast of Darwin in the "Top End" of Australia in the Northern Territory. It is the fourth largest settlement in the Territory after the capital Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs... |
Darwin International Airport
Darwin International Airport
Darwin International Airport is the busiest airport serving the Northern Territory and the tenth busiest airport in Australia. It is the only airport serving Darwin....
, located in the suburb of Marrara
Marrara, Northern Territory
Marrara is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.-History:Shown on Goyder's original surveys of Darwin in 1869 was the swamp between the suburb and the Darwin International Airport, but it, like Leanyer, is believed to be derived from an Aboriginal name for the...
, is Darwin's only airport, which shares its runways with the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
's RAAF Base Darwin
RAAF Base Darwin
RAAF Base Darwin is a Royal Australian Air Force base located in the city of Darwin, Northern Territory. The base shares its runway with Darwin International Airport.-History:...
.
Darwin can be reached via the Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...
which runs the length of the Northern Territory from Darwin through Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and on to Adelaide. Other major roads in Darwin include, Tiger Brennan Drive
Tiger Brennan Drive
Tiger Brennan Drive is a major arterial road in the eastern suburbs of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The road travels southeast–east starting from Darwin CBD and ending in Darwin's eastern suburb of Berrimah. Tiger Brennan Drive runs parallel with the Stuart Highway for most of its length...
, Amy Johnson Avenue
Amy Johnson Avenue
Amy Johnson Avenue is a major arterial road in Darwin's eastern suburbs. The road travels 4 kilometres in a north - south direction, starting from Old McMillans Road in the north passing through the Stuart Highway and ending at Tiger Brennan Drive in the south....
, Dick Ward Drive, Bagot Road, Trower Road and McMillans Road. Bus service in the greater Darwin area is served by Darwinbus
Darwinbus
Darwinbus is a public bus service which operates in Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Australia.Darwinbus is owned by the Northern Territory Government and is contracted to both the Darwin Bus Service and Buslink....
.
Ferries leave from Port Darwin to island locations, mainly for tourists. A ferry service to the Tiwi Islands
Tiwi Islands
The Tiwi Islands are part of Australia's Northern Territory, north of Darwin where the Arafura Sea joins the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island and Bathurst Island, with a combined area of ....
, the Arafura Pearl operates from Cullen Bay.
Darwin has a new deepwater port at Darwin East Arm, which is capable of handling Panamax
Panamax
Panamax and New Panamax are popular terms for the size limits for ships traveling through the Panama Canal. Formally, the limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority titled "Vessel Requirements"...
sized ships.
Utilities
Water storage, supply and Power for Darwin is managed by Power and Water CorporationPower and Water Corporation
Power and Water Corporation is a Northern Territory Government owned corporation in the Northern Territory. Power and Water is the Northern Territory's premier provider of electricity, water and sewerage services. The Power and Water Corporation was formed on 1 July 2002, taking over from the...
, which is owned by the Government of the Northern Territory
Government of the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is governed according to the principles of the Westminster system, a form of parliamentary government based on the model of the United Kingdom...
. The corporation is also responsible for management of sewage and the major water catchments in the region. Water is mainly stored in the largest dam, The Darwin River Dam which holds up to 90% of Darwin's water supply. For many years, Darwin's principal water supply came from Manton Dam.
Darwin, its suburbs, Palmerston and Katherine
Katherine, Northern Territory
Katherine is a town situated southeast of Darwin in the "Top End" of Australia in the Northern Territory. It is the fourth largest settlement in the Territory after the capital Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs...
are powered by the Channel Island Power Station, The largest power plant in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
.
A new power plant, the Weddell Power Station, is currently near completion. The first two generators came on line in 2008–2009. The third generator is due to be completed in 2011–12. When the power station is fully operational, it will add 30% capacity to Darwin's power supply.
Tourism
Tourism is one of Darwin's largest industries. Tourism is a major industry and employment sector for the Northern Territory.In 2005/06, 1.38 million people visited the Northern Territory. They stayed for 9.2 million nights and spent over $1.5 billion.
The tourism industry directly employed 8,391 Territorians in June 2006 and when indirect employment is included, tourism typically accounts for more than 14,000 jobs across the Territory.
Darwin is a hub for tours to Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin.Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of , extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres...
, Litchfield National Park
Litchfield National Park
Litchfield National Park, covering approximately 1500 km2, is near the township of Batchelor, 100 km south-west of Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia...
and Katherine Gorge.
The Territory is traditionally divided into the wet and dry, but there are up to six traditional seasons in Darwin.
It is warm and sunny from May to September. Humidity rises during the green season, from October to April bringing thunderstorms and monsoonal rains which rejuvenates the landscape. Tourism is largely seasonal with most tourists visiting during the cooler dry season which runs from April to September.
Aviation history
Ross Macpherson Smith
Sir Ross Macpherson Smith KBE, MC & Bar, DFC & Two Bars, AFC was an Australian aviator, who, along with his brother, Sir Keith Macpherson Smith, became the first pilots to fly from England to Australia, ....
and his crew landed in Darwin and won a £10,000 Prize from the Australian Government for completing the first flight from London to Australia in under thirty days. Smith and his Crew flew a Vickers Vimy
Vickers Vimy
The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft of the First World War and post-First World War era. It achieved success as both a military and civil aircraft, setting several notable records in long-distance flights in the interwar period, the most celebrated of which was the first non-stop...
, G-EAOU and landed on an airstrip that has now become Ross Smith Avenue.
Other aviation pioneers include Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson CBE, was a pioneering English aviator. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s...
, Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith
Charles Kingsford Smith
Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC , often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia...
and Bert Hinkler
Bert Hinkler
Herbert John Louis Hinkler AFC DSM , better known as Bert Hinkler, was a pioneer Australian aviator and inventor. He designed and built early aircraft before being the first person to fly solo from England to Australia, and the first person to fly solo across the Southern Atlantic Ocean...
. The original QANTAS Empire Airways Ltd Hangar, part of the original Darwin Civil Aerodrome in Parap, is now a museum and still bears scars from the bombing of Darwin during World War II.
Darwin was home to Australian and US pilots during the war, with air strips being built in and around Darwin. Today Darwin provides a staging ground for military exercise
Military exercise
A military exercise is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat...
s.
Darwin was a compulsory stop over/check point in the London to Melbourne Centenary Air Race in 1934. The official name of the race was the MacRobertson Air Race
MacRobertson Air Race
The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race took place October, 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations. The idea of the race was devised by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, and a prize fund of $75,000 was put up by Sir Macpherson Robertson, a wealthy Australian confectionery manufacturer, on the...
. Winners of the great race were Tom Campbell Black
Tom Campbell Black
Tom Campbell Black, was a famous English aviator.He was the son of Alice Jean McCullough and Hugh Milner Black. He became a world famous aviator when he and C. W. A...
and C. W. A. Scott.
The following is an excerpt from Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, 29 October 1934, Volume XXIV, Number 18.
The Australian Aviation Heritage Centre is located approximately 8 km (5 mi) from the City centre on the Stuart Highway and is one of only two places outside the United States where a B52 bomber (on permanent loan from the United States Air Force) is on public display.
US military presence
On 16 November 2011, Prime Minister Julia GillardJulia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
and President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
announced that the United States would station troops in Australia for the first time. The agreement between the United States and Australia would involve a contingent of 250 Marines arriving in Darwin in 2012, with the total number rising to a maximum of 2,500 troops by 2017 on six month rotations. China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
have expressed concern about the decision. Some analysts have argued that an expanded US presence could pose a threat to security, a view defence analyst Paul Dibb rejects, noting the deterrent effect of an offshore US military presence in the 1999 East Timorese crisis
1999 East Timorese crisis
The 1999 East Timorese crisis began with attacks by anti-independence militants on civilians, and expanded to general violence throughout the country, centred in the capital Dili. The violence erupted after a majority of eligible voters in the population of East Timor chose independence from...
which dissauded Indonesia from directly attacking Australian peacekeepers.
See also
- List of Darwin suburbs
- List of films shot in Darwin
- List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of Darwin
- List of people from Darwin
- Local Government Areas of the Northern TerritoryLocal Government Areas of the Northern TerritoryThe local government areas of the Northern Territory, Australia are the areas for which particular Local Government authorities, generally known as "Councils" have the responsibility to provide local government services...
External links
- Darwin at the Australian Bureau of StatisticsAustralian Bureau of StatisticsThe Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
(2001 Census).