Expedition led by George Goyder

Darwin’s birth officially began in 1839 when Captain J C Wickham first sailed into the harbour from Victoria. Onboard the HMS Beagle in early September, Wickham entered what would later be Darwins Harbour and from that vantage point, an officer by the name of John Stokes took a small whaler and was the first known European to land on Darwin soil. He named the harbour Port Darwin after the young naturalist, Charles Darwin, who sailed on the Beagles voyage around the world between the years 1832 and 1836.

On the 14th of September exploring parties disembarked the beagle and began the job of discovering the area. They were very impressed with what they found. Marsden Horden wrote in his study of Stokes:

 “From the Beagle’s deck they watched the sun rise in a clear sky above a hill .. At noon with the temperature hovering around 80 degrees, they welcome a refreshing breeze which ruffled the water and set the branches waving on the trees. And at nightfall, they enjoyed a feast of colour: the sun, dipping over the harbour’s westward point, brushing a few wispy clouds near the horizon with the delicate pink of a rainbow trout before dropping quickly like molten iron into the Timor Sea. Then the last of the sea breeze and the splash of wavelets on the shore heralded a night full of stars, with the cross lying low in the southern sky (Hordern 1989, 171)."

However, it was not until another 2 decades had passed, that Europeans established a permanent settlement at Port Darwin. On the 6th of July 1863 South Australia decided to incorporate the Northern Territory. It was at Escape Cliffs during the year 1864 that this first attempt at colonization was to take place. However, this first settlement was abandoned after just a couple of years due to the poor location which was surrounded by mangroves. 

It was not until 1868 that George Goyder, surveyor General of South Australia, was commissioned to travel to the Northern Territory in the aim of finding a good location in which to build a permanent settlement. Leaving with a well-equipped party, Goyder and his men headed for Port Darwin and from from February to September 1869 camped near Fort Hill. It was here that they carefully planned and laided out a new town to be built and named is Palmerston. Many of the street names, which can be seen today, such as Smith and Knuckey commemorate the surveyors involved. 

Darwin after cyclone Tracy

Considered to be the worst natural disaster to hit Australia, Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that hit and demolished the City of Darwin on Christmas 1974. With winds extending 48 kilometres and speeds of over 217km an hour, Tracy killed 71 people, caused $837 million in damage and destroyed more than 80% of the buildings in Darwin.

On the 20th of December 1974 environmental satellites picked up a large cloud mass which was centred over the Arafura Sea just northeast of Darwin. The storm was officially declared a tropical cyclone and given the name Tracy. Following the next few days, Tracy proceeded to move south westerly passing north of Darwin until it rounded Cape Fourcroy on its western tip and moved south easterly towards Darwin. At this stage locals had not given too much concern towards to the cyclone and the ABC broadcast stated that Cyclone Tracy posed no immediate threat to Darwin.

By late afternoon on the 24th of December Darwin skies were heavily overcast with low clouds and rain. Wind gusts increased in strength and by 10pm damage to buildings edged on serious as residents began to realize that the cyclone would not simple pass by the city. Cyclone Tracy passed directly over Darwin just after midnight on Christmas Day with wind speeds of up to 300km/h.

By the time Tracy finally blew itself away, it had killed 71 people, 49 of whom were on land and 22 which were out at sea. Not only this but the storm had caused $837 million in damage and destroyed more than 80% of the buildings in Darwin. The Age stated that Cyclone Tracy was a disaster of the first magnitude...without parallel in Australia’s History.

Most Australians were not aware of the cyclone and the damage that it was caused until late in the afternoon of the 25th December 1974. This was mostly due to the destruction to transport infrastructure and also the fact that most media outlets had minimal staff rostered due to being a public holiday. At this stage Darwin ceased to exist as a city.

The Australian government began the enormous task of a mass evacuation of Darwin by both road and air. All defence personnel throughout Australia, as well as the entire royal Australian Air Forces supply of planes were called in to help. Over the next 2 days around 10, 000 people left Darwin and the surrounding area. Prior to Cyclone Tracy Darwin’s population sat at around 43, 500 people, and by the 31st of December that number had be reduced down to 10, 638. These numbers consisted mostly of men who were required to stay behind and help rebuild the city destroyed city.

In February 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announced that the Darwin reconstruction commission was to rebuild the city within five years. By 1978 they had succeeded in this feat and much of the city had recovered and was able to house almost the same number of people that were living there prior to Tracy. However, Darwins population has dramatically decreased permanently without return of its former residents. In the years that followed, Darwin was entirely rebuilt and now shows almost no resemblance to the old Darwin of 1974.

Famous Darwin sunset

Darwin has officially been labelled one of the best cities in the world to visit in 2012. Featured in Lonely Planet’s new travel book on the best things to see and do next year, Darwin is up then with the top ten cities from around the world.

Host of the 2012 Olympics, London has made number one, followed by Muscat and Bangalore. Other cities that came in ahead of Darwin were Cadiz, Stockholm, Guimares, Santiago, Hong Kong and Orlando.

"It was once easy to dismiss Darwin as a frontier town full of brawling fishermen, dreamy hippies and redneck truckers. With a pumping nocturnal scene, magical markets and restaurants, and world-class wilderness areas just down the road, today Darwin is the triumph of Australia's Top End," the book says.

The top ten cities to visit during 2012 were chosen by Lonely Planet travel experts who based their decisions on topicality, excitement, value and uniqueness.

Amoung cities, a list of top ten countries were also listed. Uganda was named as the top country to visit in 2012, followed by Burma, Ukraine, Jordan, Denmark, Bhutan, Cuba, New Caledonia, Taiwan and Switzerland.

Jim Jim Falls - Kakadu National Park

The question many travellers to Darwin ask is, “ How many days do I need to be able to see Kakadu National Park?”. Whether you are thinking about taking a tour or driving there yourself, the question usually boils down to a few factors. How much time/money you have and what exactly you want to see and do once inside the park.

Its generally recommended that visitors spend between 2-3 days exploring Kakadu. There are many tour companies that offer 2-3 day tours and they are generally the most sought after by travellers. Spending a few days in Kakadu will allow you to get a good grip and experience the full intensity of the park. Don’t forget, Kakadu is roughly the size of Wales and considering that it is nearly 4 hours drive from Darwin, its worth investing some time to see it properly.


However, if your only passing through Darwin and you don’t have the time or the money to do a full camping tour, there are still plenty of options available. There are many operators who offer 1 Day Kakadu tours and they generally comprise of a billabong boat cruise and a trip to an Aboriginal art site.

Youthshack and Chillis Backpackers are happy to house over 80 Arafura Games participants who’ve come from far and wide to join in the Territories ultimate sporting event! Contestants from such countries as Timor, Macau, China, Taiwan, PNG, Fiji, New Caledonia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia joined together with local athletes to fill the Marrara stadium for the opening ceremony for the Arafura Games 2011.

Teams from 37 nations will be taking part in the games in Darwin over the next week in a array of different events. This includes boxing, lifesaving, athletics, table tennis, weightlifting, long jump, sprinting and the famous sepak takraw.

The new sport for the 2011 Arafura Games is Twenty20 Cricket, one of the fasting growing sports in the world which will be sure to attract some diverse teams from across Australia and the Asia-Pacific.

The 2011 Arafura Games will be held from 7 to 14 May 2011 in Darwin. For more information please visit http://www.arafuragames.nt.gov.au/