History of Darwin
Encyclopedia
The history of Darwin
details the city's growth from a fledging settlement into a thriving colonial capital and finally a modern city.
The Aboriginal people of the Larrakia
language group lived in the greater Darwin Region before European settlement. They had trading routes with Southeast Asia
(see Macassan contact with Australia
), and imported goods from as far as South Australia
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 17th century, and created the first Europe
an maps of the area, hence the Dutch names in the area, such as Arnhem Land
and Groote Eylandt
, which still bears the original old Dutch spelling for "large island".
of HMS Beagle
was the first British person to spot Darwin harbour on 9 September 1839, 69 years after the first European settlement of Australia. The ship's captain, Commander John Clements Wickham
, named the port after Charles Darwin
, the English naturalist who had sailed with them both on the earlier second expedition of the Beagle
. It was not until 1869 that a permanent European settlement was established by the South Australian Government who had control of the Territory
at that time.
On 5 February 1869, George Goyder
, the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 men and women at Port Darwin. Goyder named the settlement Palmerston
, after the British Prime Minister
Lord Palmerston
. The Port of Darwin was first used for modern commerce in 1869 when it was discovered. It was used to supply the new settlement of Palmerston.
The 3200 kilometres (1,988.4 mi) Australian Overland Telegraph Line
was built in the 1870s between Port Augusta
and Darwin
, connecting Australia to the rest of the world. During the construction, workers uncovered some gold near Pine Creek
, about 200 kilometres (124.3 mi) south of Darwin, which further boosted the young colony's development. In 1872, Government House
(also known as the House of Seven Gables) was built, then in the 1880s it was pulled down and rebuilt.
In February 1875, the SS Gothenburg
left Darwin for Adelaide with approximately 100 passengers and 34 crew (surviving records vary). Many passengers and crew were Darwin residents. On 24 February, in heavy storms she hit a reef at low tide off the north Queensland coast and sank with the loss of about 102 lives. The tragedy severely affected Darwin’s population and economy and it was slow to recover. Another ship, the SS Ellengowan
, sunk in Darwin harbour on 27 April 1888.
The Fannie Bay Gaol
was built between 1882 and 1883.
In 1884, the pearling industry brought people from Japan, Timor and the Philippines, many of whose ancestors are prominent families in Darwin today.
was initially settled and administered by South Australia
, until its transfer to the Commonwealth
in 1911.
On 17 December 1918, the Darwin Rebellion occurred. During the rebellion, members of the Australian Workers' Union
, led by Harold Nelson
, burnt an effigy
of the Administrator of the Northern Territory
, John Gilruth
at Government House
, and demanded his resignation.
On 19 February 1942, at 9:57 am, during World War II
, 188 Japanese
warplanes attacked Darwin in two waves. The incoming Japanese planes were first spotted by Father John McGrath
at the Bathurst Island Mission north of Darwin. McGrath radioed at 9:30 am and the sirens wailed at 9:57 am. 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.
This event is often called the "Pearl Harbor
of Australia". Although it was a less significant target, a greater number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than were used in the attack on Pearl Harbor. As was the case at Pearl Harbor, the Australian town was unprepared, and although it came under attack from the air another 58 times in 1942 and 1943, the raids on 19 February were massive and devastating by comparison.
Another raid
was conducted by the Japanese on 2 May 1943.
Darwin was granted city status on Australia Day
(26 January) 1959.
, which killed 71 people and destroyed over 70% of the town's buildings, including many old stone buildings such as the Palmerston Town Hall, the Old Police Station, the Court House and Cell Block all on The Esplanade which runs along Lameroo Beach which could not withstand the lateral forces generated by the strong winds.
It was Australia's worst natural disaster. The anemometer at Darwin Airport recorded winds of 217 kilometres per hour (134.8 mph) at 3:00 am before it stopped working; winds of up to 250 kilometres per hour (155.3 mph) were estimated to have hit the city. The total damage cost $1 billion. Sixteen people were lost at sea, their bodies never recovered. The historic schooner
Booya
sunk due to the cyclone.
After the disaster, an airlift evacuated 30,000 people, which was the biggest airlift in Australia's history. The population was evacuated by air and ground transportation; due to communications difficulties with Darwin airport landing was limited to one plane every ninety minutes. At major airports teams of Salvation Army
and Red Cross workers met refugees, with the Red Cross taking responsibility for keeping track of the names and temporary addresses of the refugees. Evacuations were prioritised according to need; women, children, the elderly and sick were evacuated first. There were reports of men dressing up as women to escape with the early evacuations.
By 31 December only 10,900 people (mostly men who were required to help clean up the city) remained in Darwin. The city enacted a permit system. Permits were only issued to those who were involved in either the relief or reconstruction efforts, and were used to prevent the early return of those who were evacuated.
was built 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) south of Darwin in the early 1980s.
As a result of air raids and cyclones, Darwin has few historic buildings although some of the stronger stone structures survived and have been restored. Since Cyclone Tracy all buildings are constructed to a strict cyclone code. Steel is a popular building material and led to a distinctive modern style associated with Darwin known as Troppo. Southeast Asian influences are also apparent in some of the architecture. A growing population and relatively scarce land has seen a boom in high rise apartment style housing in recent years especially around the central business district and coastal fringes.
Darwin, Northern Territory
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...
details the city's growth from a fledging settlement into a thriving colonial capital and finally a modern city.
Early history
Larrakia
Larrakia are the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Larrakia Country which includes the area in and around Darwin, Northern Territory in Australia...
language group lived in the greater Darwin Region before European settlement. They had trading routes with Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
(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 as 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...
and Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. 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
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
visited 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...
's northern coastline in the 17th century, and created the first Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an maps of the area, hence 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)....
, which still bears the original old Dutch spelling for "large island".
1800s
Lieutenant John Lort StokesJohn 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...
was the first British person to spot Darwin harbour on 9 September 1839, 69 years after the first European settlement of Australia. 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 English naturalist who had sailed with them both on the earlier second expedition of the Beagle
The Voyage of the Beagle
The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, bringing him considerable fame and respect...
. It was not until 1869 that a permanent European settlement was established by the South Australian Government who had control of the 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...
at that time.
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 men and women 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
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC , known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century...
. The Port of Darwin was first used for modern commerce in 1869 when it was discovered. It was used to supply the new settlement of Palmerston.
The 3200 kilometres (1,988.4 mi) 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...
was built in the 1870s between 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...
and Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
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...
, connecting Australia to the rest of the world. During the construction, workers uncovered some gold near 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....
, about 200 kilometres (124.3 mi) south of Darwin, which further boosted the young colony's development. In 1872, 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...
(also known as the House of Seven Gables) was built, then in the 1880s it was pulled down and rebuilt.
In 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 for Adelaide with approximately 100 passengers and 34 crew (surviving records vary). Many passengers and crew were Darwin residents. On 24 February, in heavy storms she hit a reef at low tide off the north Queensland coast and sank with the loss of about 102 lives. The tragedy severely affected Darwin’s population and economy and it was slow to recover. Another ship, the SS Ellengowan
SS Ellengowan
SS Ellengowan was a schooner rigged, single screw steamer built by Akers Mekaniske Værksted in Christiania Norway, under her original name, Nøkken. The vessel was powered by sail and a vertical direct acting steam engine. Ellengowan sank at its moorings, unmanned, during the night of 27 April 1888...
, sunk in Darwin harbour on 27 April 1888.
The Fannie Bay Gaol
Fannie Bay Gaol
Fannie Bay Gaol is a historic gaol in Darwin, Australia. The gaol operated as Her Majesty's Gaol and Labour Prison, from 20 September 1883 until 1 September 1979...
was built between 1882 and 1883.
In 1884, the pearling industry brought people from Japan, Timor and the Philippines, many of whose ancestors are prominent families in Darwin today.
1900s
In 1911, the city's name changed from Palmerston to Darwin. The Northern TerritoryNorthern 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...
was initially settled and administered by 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 the Commonwealth
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...
in 1911.
Darwin Rebellion
Australian Workers' Union
The Australian Workers' Union is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s, and currently has approximately 135,000 members...
, 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....
, 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...
at 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...
, and demanded his resignation.
Bombing of Darwin
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 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. The incoming Japanese planes were first spotted by Father John McGrath
John McGrath
John Peter McGrath, , was a Liverpudlian-Irish playwright and theatre theorist who grew up in Wales and notably took up the cause of Scottish independence in his plays...
at the Bathurst Island Mission north of Darwin. McGrath radioed at 9:30 am and the sirens wailed at 9:57 am. 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
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...
.
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
Japanese air attacks on Australia, 1942-43
Between February 1942 and November 1943, during the Pacific War, the Australian mainland, domestic airspace, offshore islands and coastal shipping were attacked at least 97 times by aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force...
on Darwin.
This event is often called the "Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
of Australia". Although it was a less significant target, a greater number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than were used in the attack on Pearl Harbor. As was the case at Pearl Harbor, the Australian town was unprepared, and although it came under attack from the air another 58 times in 1942 and 1943, the raids on 19 February were massive and devastating by comparison.
Another raid
Raid on Darwin (2 May 1943)
The Japanese raid on Darwin of 2 May 1943 was a significant battle in the North Western Area Campaign of World War II. During the raid a force of over 20 Japanese bombers and fighters attacked the Australian town of Darwin, Northern Territory, inflicting little damage. The Royal Australian Air...
was conducted by the Japanese on 2 May 1943.
Darwin was granted city status on Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
(26 January) 1959.
Cyclone Tracy
On 25 December 1974, Darwin was struck by Cyclone TracyCyclone 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, the Old Police Station, the Court House and Cell Block all on The Esplanade which runs along Lameroo Beach which could not withstand the lateral forces generated by the strong winds.
It was Australia's worst natural disaster. The anemometer at Darwin Airport recorded winds of 217 kilometres per hour (134.8 mph) at 3:00 am before it stopped working; winds of up to 250 kilometres per hour (155.3 mph) were estimated to have hit the city. The total damage cost $1 billion. Sixteen people were lost at sea, their bodies never recovered. The historic schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Booya
Booya (ship)
Booya was a three-masted schooner with a steel hull built in the Netherlands in 1917. She was originally named De Lauwers. Booya was last seen anchored off Fort Hill wharf in Darwin Harbour at about 8.00pm on 24 December 1974, the evening Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin...
sunk due to the cyclone.
After the disaster, an airlift evacuated 30,000 people, which was the biggest airlift in Australia's history. The population was evacuated by air and ground transportation; due to communications difficulties with Darwin airport landing was limited to one plane every ninety minutes. At major airports teams of Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
and Red Cross workers met refugees, with the Red Cross taking responsibility for keeping track of the names and temporary addresses of the refugees. Evacuations were prioritised according to need; women, children, the elderly and sick were evacuated first. There were reports of men dressing up as women to escape with the early evacuations.
By 31 December only 10,900 people (mostly men who were required to help clean up the city) remained in Darwin. The city enacted a permit system. Permits were only issued to those who were involved in either the relief or reconstruction efforts, and were used to prevent the early return of those who were evacuated.
Post 1970s
The city was subsequently rebuilt with newer materials and techniques during the late 1970s by the Darwin Reconstruction Commission. A satellite city of PalmerstonPalmerston, 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 kilometres (12.4 mi) south of Darwin in the early 1980s.
As a result of air raids and cyclones, Darwin has few historic buildings although some of the stronger stone structures survived and have been restored. Since Cyclone Tracy all buildings are constructed to a strict cyclone code. Steel is a popular building material and led to a distinctive modern style associated with Darwin known as Troppo. Southeast Asian influences are also apparent in some of the architecture. A growing population and relatively scarce land has seen a boom in high rise apartment style housing in recent years especially around the central business district and coastal fringes.
See also
- History of the Northern TerritoryHistory of the Northern TerritoryThe history of the Northern Territory began over 40,000 years ago when Indigenous Australians settled the region. Makassan traders began trading with the indigenous people of the Northern Territory for trepang from at least the 18th century onwards , and possibly for 300 years prior to that.The...
- Aviation history of Darwin