104-847: Larrakeyah is an inner suburb of Darwin , the capital city of Australia 's Northern Territory . It is the traditional country and waterways of the Larrakia people . It was one of the first parts of the city to be developed, and borders the Darwin Central Business District . At the 2016 Census, there were 3,729 people in Larrakeyah. 54.9% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 4.3%, Philippines 4.0% and New Zealand 2.7%. 66.0% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 31.8% and Catholic 23.5%. The suburb
208-523: A Legislative Assembly had been set up earlier in the year, the Northern Territory had only minimal self-government, with a federal minister being responsible for the Territory from Canberra. However, the cyclone and subsequent responses highlighted several problems with the way the regional government was set up. This led Malcolm Fraser , Whitlam's successor as Prime Minister, to give self-government to
312-474: A Qantas Boeing 747-238B (VH-EBB) departed Darwin on 28 December with a record breaking 673 evacuees on board. By 31 December, only 10,638 people (mostly men who were required to help clean up the city) remained in Darwin. Stretton also regulated access to the city by means of a permit system. Permits were issued only to those who were involved in either the relief or reconstruction efforts, and were used to prevent
416-545: A Vickers Vimy , G-EAOU, and landed on an airstrip that has 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, a registered heritage site, was part of the original Darwin Civil Aerodrome in Parap and is now a museum that still bears scars from the bombing of Darwin during World War II. Darwin
520-504: A 60-kilometre (37 mi) radius of Darwin alone—about three times the amount of lightning that Perth experiences on average in an entire year. Darwin's population changed after the Second World War. Like many other Australian cities, Darwin experienced influxes from Europe, with significant numbers of Italians and Greeks during the 1960s and 1970s. It also began to experience an influx from other European countries, which included
624-659: A B-52 bomber (on permanent loan from the United States Air Force) is on public display. Darwin is a coastal city, situated along the western shoreline of the Northern Territory. The water meets the land from the Beagle Gulf , which extends out into the Timor Sea . The central business district occupies a low bluff overlooking Darwin Harbour to the south, beyond which lie East Arm , Middle Arm, Northern Territory , and, across
728-465: A cyclone warning only 10 days before Tracy [that another cyclone (Selma)] was coming, it was coming, and it never came. So when we started hearing about Tracy we were all a little blasé.(Bunbury, p. 20) Another resident, Barbara Langkrens, said: And you started to almost think that it would never happen to Darwin even though we had cyclone warnings on the radio all the time ... most of the people who had lived here for quite some time didn't really believe
832-547: A cyclone. In order to provide the initial emergency response, a committee was created. The committee, composed of several high-level public servants and police, stated that, "Darwin had, for the time being, ceased to exist as a city". Gough Whitlam , the Australian Prime Minister, was touring Syracuse, Sicily , at the time and flew to Darwin upon hearing of the disaster. Additionally, the Australian government began
936-630: A devil of a trip." But they had flown 9000 miles [14000 km] in two days, had broken the England to Australia record of 162 hr. in the unbelievable time of 52hr. 33 min., were only 2000 miles [3200 km] from their goal at Melbourne. The Darwin Aviation Museum is about 8 km (5 mi) from the city centre on the Stuart Highway and is one of only three places outside the United States where
1040-477: A mass evacuation by road and air; all of the Defence Force personnel throughout Australia, along with the entire Royal Australian Air Force 's fleet of transport planes, were recalled from holiday leave and deployed to evacuate civilians from Darwin as well as to bring essential relief supplies to the area. Thirteen RAN ships were used to transport supplies to the area as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin , which
1144-553: A no-rainfall event of this extent is rare. The 3pm dewpoint average in the wet season is around 24.0 °C (75.2 °F). Extreme temperatures at the Darwin Post Office Station have ranged from 40.4 °C (104.7 °F) on 17 October 1892 to 13.4 °C (56.1 °F) on 25 June 1891; extreme temperatures at the Darwin Airport station (which is farther from the coast and routinely records cooler temperatures than
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#17328587240471248-472: A range of diseases to one of these institutions. Around 10,000 Australian and other Allied troops arrived in Darwin at the outset of World War II to defend Australia's northern coast. 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 considerably more bombs were dropped on Darwin than on Pearl Harbor. The attack killed at least 243 people and caused immense damage to
1352-621: A reporter for the local ABC radio station, 8DR , credited as being the man who informed the rest of the nation about the cyclone, after finding out that the ABC's studios on Cavenagh Street were completely knocked off transmission, was able to travel through the wreckage and the storm to the studios of the local television station NTD -8 to send a message to the ABC station in Mount Isa , Queensland, to notify ABC headquarters in Sydney that Darwin had been hit by
1456-465: 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. In the 1870s, relatively large numbers of Chinese settled at least temporarily in the Northern Territory; many were contracted to work
1560-531: A site at Escape Cliffs , near the entrance to Adelaide River, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast of the modern city. This attempt was short-lived, and the settlement abandoned by 1865. On 5 February 1869, George Goyder , the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin between Fort Hill and the escarpment. Goyder named the settlement Palmerston after British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston . In 1870,
1664-437: Is 18.4 °C (65.1 °F) on 3 June 1904 for the post office station and 21.1 °C (70.0 °F) on 14 July 1968 for the airport station. The wet season is associated with tropical cyclones and monsoon rains. Most rainfall occurs between December and March (the summer), when thunderstorms are common and afternoon relative humidity averages over 70 percent during the wettest months. It does not rain every day during
1768-410: Is a satellite city 20 km (12 mi) east of Darwin that was established in the 1980s and is one of Australia's fastest-growing municipalities. Darwin's rural areas, including Howard Springs , Humpty Doo and Berry Springs , are experiencing strong growth. Darwin's central business district (CBD) is bounded by Daly Street in the northwest, McMinn Street in the northeast, Mitchell Street on
1872-479: Is an excerpt from Time magazine , 29 October 1934: Third Day. Biggest sensation of the race came just before dawn on the third day, when burly Lieutenant Scott and dapper Captain Black flew their scarlet Comet into Darwin. They had covered the last 300 miles [480 km] over water on one motor, risked death landing on a field made soggy by the first rain in seven months. Said sandy-haired Lieutenant Scott: "We've had
1976-432: Is located within the federal electorate of Solomon and the territory electorate of Port Darwin . Larrakeyah is named after the Larrakia people , who inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to European settlement, and who are the traditional custodians of the land where the city of Darwin was built. Development of the suburb began shortly after the settlement of Palmerston was established and began to expand with
2080-410: Is sunny, and afternoon relative humidity averages around 30%. The driest period of the year, seeing about 5 mm (0.20 in) of monthly rainfall on average, is between May and September. In the coolest months, June and July, the daily minimum temperature may dip as low as 14 °C (57 °F), but very rarely lower, and a temperature lower than 10 °C (50 °F) has never been recorded in
2184-631: Is the largest humanitarian or disaster relief operation ever performed by the Royal Australian Navy . As soon as the worst of the storm had passed, Darwin faced several immediate health crises. On Christmas Day, the Darwin Hospital treated well over five hundred patients, with 112 of these being admitted into the hospital, and both of the facility's operating theatres being utilised. The first casualties did not arrive till 7 a.m. because of high winds and severe road conditions in and around
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#17328587240472288-753: 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 afterward. On 18 October 1918, during the Spanish flu pandemic , the SS Mataram sailing from Singapore with infectious diseases arrived in Darwin. In 1931,
2392-648: The Casino , the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens , Doctor's Gully and bars and restaurants at Cullen Bay. The Myilly Point heritage precinct contains a number of public service residences built for high ranking Commonwealth officials during the 1930s. These are rare examples of tropical architecture from the period that relied on natural ventilation for cooling, surviving both the Japanese bombing raids and Cyclone Tracy that devastated many older buildings in
2496-592: The City of Darwin , which takes in the CBD and the suburbs. The city has been governed by a city council form of government since 1957. The 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 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
2600-562: The Dutch , Germans , and many others. A significant proportion of Darwin's residents are recent immigrants from Asia , including the peoples of East Timor . At the 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were: 38.3% of the population at the 2016 census was born overseas. The five largest groups of overseas-born were from the Philippines (3.6%), England (3.1%), New Zealand (2.1%), India (2%) and Greece (0.9%). 8.7% of
2704-459: The Japanese bombing of Darwin under the command of Hideki Tojo during World War II to the damage done by Cyclone Tracy. The much-feared Japanese invasion never happened, but the cyclone was virtually ignored and ended up destroying the city. In May 1976, Australian band Ayers Rock released the single "Song for Darwin", also as a fundraiser for the relief and reconstruction efforts. In 1986,
2808-472: The Kahlin Compound was established as a segregated camp where Aboriginal families removed from their communities were forced to live in rudimentary structures while receiving a western education, or providing cheap labour for white residents. From 1924, children from the compound were removed from their families to the nearby Myilly Point Half-Caste Home where an inquiry on behalf of the Administrator of
2912-582: The Nine Network and PBL created Cyclone Tracy , a period drama mini-series based on the events during the cyclone. Michael Fisher, Ted Roberts and Leon Saunders wrote the series, and it also starred Chris Haywood and Tracy Mann , who played the lead characters of Steve and Connie. The mini-series was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in December 2005. The DVD is compatible with all region codes and includes special features such as newsreel footage of
3016-550: The Top End 's regional centre. Darwin's proximity to Southeast Asia makes it a key link between Australia and countries such as Indonesia and Timor-Leste . The Stuart Highway begins in Darwin and extends southerly across central Australia through Tennant Creek and Alice Springs , concluding in Port Augusta, South Australia . The city is built upon a low bluff overlooking Darwin Harbour . Darwin's suburbs begin at Lee Point in
3120-447: The ship's previous voyage . The settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869, but was renamed Darwin in 1911. The city has been almost entirely rebuilt four times, following devastation caused by a cyclone in 1897 , another one in 1937, Japanese air raids during World War II , and Cyclone Tracy in 1974. The Aboriginal people of the Larrakia language group are the traditional custodians and earliest known inhabitants of
3224-546: The 17 remaining patients from the leprosarium at Cossack, Western Australia were moved to Darwin, after it closed down. It was at a time when many Aboriginal people who were thought to have leprosy or other infectious diseases were sent to lock hospitals and leprosariums under the Aborigines Act 1905 , which gave the Chief Protector of Aborigines powers to arrest and send any Indigenous person suspected of having
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3328-418: The 20 years leading up to Cyclone Tracy, the city had undergone a period of rapid expansion. E.P. Milliken estimated that on the eve of the cyclone there were 43,500 people living in 12,000 dwellings in the Darwin area. Though building standards at the time required that some attention be given to the possibility of cyclones, most buildings were not capable of withstanding the force of a cyclone's direct hit. On
3432-487: The 47,000 inhabitants of the city homeless prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people, of whom many never returned. After the storm passed, the city was rebuilt using more stringent standards "to cyclone code". The storm is the second-smallest tropical cyclone on record (in terms of gale-force wind diameter), behind only the North Atlantic's Tropical Storm Marco in 2008 . On 20 December 1974,
3536-527: The Darwin area. Operating continued throughout the night and into the early morning. Local teams worked without relief until the arrival of a surgical team from Canberra late that day. Those who were considered unable to return to work within two weeks were evacuated by air to safer locations. All official communications out of Darwin were no longer operational. The antennas at the OTC Coastal Radio Service station (callsign VID) were destroyed during
3640-586: The Darwin population averaged 33 years old (compared to the national average of around 37), to a large extent because of the military presence and because many people opt to retire elsewhere. As of 2021, 41.7% of Darwin had no religion, so described. The largest religious denomination was Roman Catholicism (18.2%) and Anglican (5.2%). The Darwin City Council (incorporated under the Northern Territory Local Government Act 1993) governs
3744-688: The Dutch names in the area, such as Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt . During this period, Dutch explorers named the region around Darwin—sometimes including nearby Kimberley —variations of "Van Diemen's Land", after the VOC governor-general Anthony van Diemen . This should not be confused with the more general and prolonged use of the same name for Tasmania . 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
3848-832: The Lord Mayor of Darwin. Since the August 2017 council elections, the mayor has been Kon Vatskalis . Cyclone Tracy Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin , in the Northern Territory of Australia , in December 1974. The small, developing, easterly storm was originally expected to pass clear of the city, but it turned towards it early on 24 December. After 10:00 p.m. ACST , damage became severe, with wind gusts reaching 217 km/h (117 kn; 135 mph) before instruments failed. The anemometer in Darwin Airport control tower had its needle bent in half by
3952-611: The Natural Disasters Organization, and the commonwealth minister for the Northern Territory, Rex Patterson , arrived at Darwin Airport late on Christmas Day and took charge of the relief efforts. After an assessment of the situation and meetings with the Department of the Northern Territory and the relevant minister, it was concluded that Darwin's population needed to be reduced to a "safe level" of 10,500 people. This decision
4056-598: The Navy's Patrol Boat Group . The rest of the suburb is predominantly residential, with some high-rise development in the Cullen Bay area, on the fringe of the Darwin CBD and overlooking The Gardens . It has a diverse and somewhat transient population. There are a number of serviced apartment developments and accommodation businesses in the suburb, owing to its proximity to the city and tourist attractions including Mindil Beach and
4160-589: The Northern Territory , Frederic Urquhart suggested they could be disciplined and integrated with white society. These events have come to be associated with the Stolen Generations . On 19 February 1942, bombs fell on the Darwin Hospital and public service residences in Larrakeyah during the Bombing of Darwin . The two air-raids left 250 people dead and another 300 injured. The Hospital itself had been built on
4264-409: The Stuart Highway toward Palmerston, centred on Winnellie . The area'a largest shopping precinct is Casuarina Square . The most expensive residential areas stand along the coast in suburbs such as the marina of Cullen Bay , Larrakeyah , Bayview and Brinkin . These low-lying regions are at risk during cyclones and higher tides, but adequate drainage and stringent building regulations have reduced
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4368-412: The Territory in 1978. Many of the government records associated with Cyclone Tracy became publicly available on 1 January 2005 under the 30-year rule . Cyclone Tracy inspired the song " Santa Never Made It into Darwin ", composed by Bill Cate and performed by Bill and Boyd in 1975 to raise money for the relief and reconstruction efforts. In 1983, Hoodoo Gurus released " Tojo ", a song comparing
4472-616: The United States' ESSA-8 environmental satellite recorded a large cloud mass centred over the Arafura Sea about 370 km (230 mi) northeast of Darwin. This disturbance was tracked by the Darwin Weather Bureau's regional director Ray Wilkie, and by senior meteorologist Geoff Crane. On 21 December, the ESSA-8 satellite showed evidence of a newly formed circular centre near latitude 8° south and longitude 135° east . Crane -
4576-423: The airport. The hottest months are October and November, just before the onset of the main rain season. The temperature is usually below 35 °C (95 °F), but the heat index sometimes rises above 45 °C (113 °F), because of humidity levels that most find uncomfortable. Because of its long dry season, Darwin has the second-highest average daily hours of sunshine (8.4) of any Australian capital, with
4680-490: The cities of Perth , Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Townsville , Brisbane , Adelaide , Alice Springs , Gove, Mt Isa, Cairns, Rockhampton, Mackay, Lismore, and Cooma. By 10:40 a.m., VID operators had established VID2 on board MV Nyanda in Darwin Harbour, and then for five days official communications traffic in and out of Darwin was handled via continuous wave radio ( Morse code ). The only local radio station that
4784-494: The city centre. Outer suburbs away from the coast occasionally record temperatures as low as 5 °C (41 °F) in the dry season. For a 147‑day period during the 2012 dry season, from 5 May to 29 September, Darwin recorded no precipitation. Prolonged periods of no precipitation are common in the dry season in Northern Australia (particularly in the Northern Territory and northern regions of Western Australia ), although
4888-618: The city's buildings, including many old stone buildings such as the Palmerston Town Hall, which could not withstand the lateral forces the winds generated. After the disaster, 30,000 of the population of 46,000 were evacuated in the biggest airlift in Australia's history. The town was 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
4992-517: The city. The suburb has one school, Larrakeyah Primary School, catering for students in Transition to year 6. There are several public parks in Larrakeyah, including Da Costa Park on Larrakeyah Terrace, a popular place for picnics and walks, offering excellent views of the harbour and city skyline. Other parks include the Kahlin Oval and Myilly Point park. An adventure playground and skate park opened on
5096-550: The coast are home to recreational reserves, extensive beaches, and excellent fishing. Darwin and its suburbs spread in an approximately triangular shape, with the older southwestern suburbs—and the city itself—forming one corner, the newer northern suburbs 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 RAAF Base Darwin . Palmerston
5200-628: The construction of the Overland Telegraph and discovery of gold at Pine Creek . The colony's first hospital was built on Packard Street, Larrakeyah in 1874, funded privately by English philanthropist Louisa Da Costa who had spent some time in the colony of South Australia , and other members of the community. in Further development occurred when the Myilly Point precinct was established as a residential area for senior public servants in 1911. In 1913,
5304-504: The country to assist with the emergency relief efforts. Trench latrines were dug, water supplies delivered by tankers, and mass immunisation programs begun. The army was given the task of searching houses for bodies of people and animals, as well as locating other health risks; for example, cleaning out rotting contents from fridges and freezers across the city. This was completed within a week. Houses which had been "searched and cleared" had S&C painted on an external wall. The city itself
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#17328587240475408-500: The country, allowing stories and histories to be told and retold along the routes. The extent of shared songlines and history of multiple clan groups within this area is contestable. The Dutch visited Australia's northern coastline in the 1600s and landed on the Tiwi Islands only to be repelled by the Tiwi peoples . The Dutch created the first European maps of the area. This accounts for
5512-408: The crowd threw cash into for the relief funds. Darwin families were also given priority on public housing waiting lists. On 31 December 1974, Stretton recommended that full civilian control should resume in Darwin, and handed over control of the city to its elected officials. In February 1975, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announced the creation of the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, which
5616-409: The cyclone had destroyed virtually all telecommunication and radio equipment in the city, including the transmission equipment at both Royal Australian Navy bases HMAS Melville and HMAS Coonawarra . The first communication link reestablished in the aftermath was via HF Radio sourced from a Connellan Airways de Havilland Heron that had been hastily stored in an empty hangar at Darwin Airport
5720-493: The cyclone. Many residents continued to prepare for Christmas, and many attended Christmas parties despite the increasing winds and heavy rain. Journalist Bill Bunbury interviewed the residents of Darwin sometime later and recorded the experiences of the survivors of the cyclone in his book Cyclone Tracy: Picking Up the Pieces . Resident Dawn Lawrie , a 1971 independent candidate for the electorate of Nightcliff , told him: We'd had
5824-447: The damage became serious, and residents began to realise that the cyclone would not pass by the city, but over it. On 25 December at around 3:30 a.m., Tracy's centre crossed the coast near Fannie Bay . The highest recorded wind gust from the cyclone was 217 kilometres per hour (135 mph), which was recorded around 3:05 a.m. at Darwin Airport . The anemometer (wind speed instrument) failed at around 3:10 a.m., with
5928-420: The damage that Darwin took in 1974. By 1978, much of the city had recovered and was able to house almost the same number of people as it had before the cyclone hit. However, by the 1980s, as many as sixty percent of Darwin's 1974 population had left, never to return. In the years that followed, Darwin was almost entirely rebuilt and now shows almost no resemblance to the pre-Tracy Darwin of December 1974. Although
6032-409: The day of the cyclone, most residents of Darwin believed that the cyclone would not cause any damage to the city. Cyclone Selma had been predicted to hit Darwin earlier in the month, but it instead went north and dissipated without affecting Darwin in any way. As a result, Cyclone Tracy took most Darwin residents by surprise. Despite several warnings, the people of Darwin did not evacuate or prepare for
6136-409: The day. The destruction of transportation infrastructure and the distance between Darwin and the rest of the Australian population played a role in the delayed information dissemination, as did the fact the storm made landfall on Christmas Day and most media outlets only had a skeleton crew rostered on at best. Most Australians were not aware of the cyclone until late in the afternoon. Dick Muddimer,
6240-475: The death total was raised to 71 and this was widely published. However recent research by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory has determined that this figure includes five deaths that were double counted, reducing the overall total to 66. Of these, 45 died on land and 21 died at sea. Several factors delayed the dissemination of the news of the cyclone's impact to the country. The intensity and track of
6344-415: The devastation and a documentary titled On A Wind and a Prayer . Tracy is the most compact cyclone or equivalent-strength hurricane on record in the Australian basin and Southern Hemisphere, with gale-force winds extending only 48 kilometres (30 mi) from the centre, and was also the smallest tropical cyclone worldwide until 2008, when Tropical Storm Marco of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season broke
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#17328587240476448-457: The dry season, the city has clear skies and mild sea breezes from the harbour. The Larrakia people are the traditional owners of the Darwin area, and Aboriginal people are a significant proportion of the population. On 9 September 1839, HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin Harbour during its survey 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
6552-417: The early evacuations. Between 26 and 31 December, a total of 35,362 people were evacuated from Darwin. Of those, 25,628 were evacuated by air, the remainder by road. Most evacuation flights were conducted onboard commercial aircraft sent by Ansett , TAA , MMA and Qantas , with a majority of these flights being filled to upwards of 150% their normal passenger capacity. One particular evacuation flight,
6656-480: The early return of those who had been evacuated. Upon receiving news of the damage, several community groups across Australia began fundraising and relief efforts to assist the survivors. Major reception centres were set up in cities such as Katherine , Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Several of the small towns along the Stuart Highway made efforts to assist people who were fleeing by road, supplying them with food, fuel, rest, and mechanical aid. At Adelaide River ,
6760-502: The eye of the cyclone. From around 6:30 a.m., the winds began to ease, with the rainfall ceasing at around 8:30 a.m. After making landfall, Tracy rapidly weakened, dissipating on 26 December. Total rainfall in Darwin from Cyclone Tracy was at least 255 mm (10.0 in). Darwin had been severely battered by cyclones before: in January 1897 and again in March 1937. However, in
6864-681: The first poles for the Overland Telegraph were erected in Darwin, connecting Australia to the rest of the world. The discovery of gold by employees of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line digging holes for telegraph poles at Pine Creek in the 1880s spawned a gold rush, which further boosted the colony's development. In February 1872 the brigantine Alexandra was the first private vessel to sail from an English port directly to Darwin, carrying people many of whom were coming to recent gold finds. In early 1875 Darwin's white population had grown to approximately 300 because of
6968-513: 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
7072-603: The goldfields and later to build the Palmerston to Pine Creek railway. By 1888 there were 6,122 Chinese in the Northern Territory, mostly in or around Darwin. The early Chinese settlers were mainly from Guangdong Province . The Chinese community established Darwin Chinatown . At the end of the 19th century, anti-Chinese feelings grew in response to the 1890s economic depression, and the White Australia policy meant many Chinese left
7176-406: The greater Darwin area. Their name for the area is Garramilla, pronounced / ɡ ɑːr ə m ɪ l ə / and meaning "white stone", referring to the colour of rock and sea cliffs found in the 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
7280-419: The gulf, West Arm. Middle Arm has an industrial precinct on the peninsula, which is being promoted as a sustainable development area that will include plants for industries such as low-emission petrochemicals , renewable hydrogen , and carbon capture storage . The city is flanked by Frances Bay to the east and Cullen Bay to the west. The rest of the city is relatively flat and low-lying, and areas bordering
7384-620: The last two missing ships were located in Darwin Harbour, MV Booya in October 2003 and the ferry Darwin Princess in May 2004. Police divers investigated both wrecks and found no human remains but did retrieve some personal effects. In March 2005, the Northern Territory Coroner held an inquest into the people suspected to have died on board, declaring them deaths at sea. Following the inquest
7488-513: The meteorological duty officer at the time - issued the initial tropical cyclone alert, describing the storm as a tropical low that could develop into a tropical cyclone. Later in the evening, the Darwin meteorological office received an infrared satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's satellite, NOAA-4 , showing that the low pressure had developed further and that spiralling clouds could be observed. The storm
7592-509: The morning of 24 December, Tracy rounded Cape Fourcroy on the western tip of Bathurst Island , and moved in a southeasterly direction, straight towards Darwin. The bureau's weather station at Cape Fourcroy measured a mean wind speed of 120 km/h (75 mph) at 9:00 that morning. By late afternoon on 24 December, the sky over the city was heavily overcast , with low clouds, and was experiencing strong rain. Wind gusts increased in strength; between 10 p.m. (local time) and midnight,
7696-520: The most sunshine from April to November; only Perth , Western Australia, averages more (8.8). The sun passes directly overhead in mid-October and mid-February. The average temperature of the sea ranges from 25.8 °C (78.4 °F) in July to 31.5 °C (88.7 °F) in December. Darwin occupies one of the most lightning-prone areas in Australia. On 31 January 2002 an early-morning squall line produced over 5,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes within
7800-507: The night before, being anchored to towing equipment and weighed down with 350 kg (770 lb) of beer cartons. From this aircraft, pilot David Fredrickson contacted the Katherine Flight Service Center by mid-morning to convey news of the disaster. He then spent much of the day relaying messages on behalf of emergency services, Navy personnel and airport staff until additional communication links were established later in
7904-603: The north and stretch to Berrimah in the east. The Stuart Highway extends to Darwin's eastern satellite city of Palmerston and its suburbs. The Darwin region, like much of the Top End, has a tropical climate , with a wet and dry season. A period known locally as "the build up" leading up to Darwin's wet season sees temperature and humidity increase. Darwin's wet season typically arrives in late November to early December and brings with it heavy monsoonal downpours, spectacular lightning displays, and increased cyclone activity. During
8008-451: The old Darwin Hospital site in 2021. The Sealink ferry terminal is located at the end of Marina Boulevard in Cullen Bay, providing connections to Mandorah and the Tiwi Islands . Larrakeyah has a man-made housing and marina development called Cullen Bay. . It has bars and restaurants. Cullen Bay was built in 1993 on reclaimed land between Emery Point and Myilly Point at the northern end of
8112-614: The population, or 11,960 people, identified as Indigenous Australians ( Aboriginal Australians and/or Torres Strait Islanders ) in 2016. This is the largest proportion of any Australian capital city. At the 2016 census, 58% of the population spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home include Tagalog (3.7%), Greek (3.5%), Mandarin (2.0%), Nepali (1.2%), Indonesian (1.0%), Australian Aboriginal languages (1.0%), Malayalam (0.9%), Vietnamese (0.8%), Cantonese (0.7%), Italian (0.6%), Portuguese (0.5%, mostly spoken by Timorese ), and Tamil (0.5%). In 2011,
8216-501: The port after Charles Darwin , the British naturalist who had sailed with him when he served as first lieutenant on the earlier second expedition of the Beagle . In 1863, the Northern Territory was transferred from New South Wales to South Australia . In 1864 South Australia sent B. T. Finniss north as Government Resident to survey and found a capital for its new territory. Finniss chose
8320-427: The post office station, which is in Darwin's CBD) have ranged from 38.9 °C (102.0 °F) on 18 October 1982 to 10.4 °C (50.7 °F) on 29 July 1942. The highest minimum temperature on record is 30.7 °C (87.3 °F) on 18 January 1928 for the post office station and 29.7 °C (85.5 °F) on both 25 November 1987 and 17 December 2014 for the airport station. The lowest maximum temperature on record
8424-502: The potential damage to buildings or injury to residents. The inner northern suburbs are home to lower-income households, although low-income Territory Housing units are scattered throughout the metropolitan area. The suburb of Lyons was part of a multi-stage land release and development in the Northern Suburbs; planning, development and construction took place from 2004 to 2009. More recent developments near Lyons subdivision includes
8528-627: The record, with gale-force winds extending only 18.5 kilometres (11.5 mi) from the centre. After forming over the Arafura Sea, the storm moved southwards and affected the city with Category 4 winds on the Australian cyclone intensity scale , while there is evidence to suggest that it had reached Category 3 on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale when it made landfall . Bruce Stannard of The Age stated that Cyclone Tracy
8632-566: The site of the Kahlin Compound and opened just a few days before the attack. It would be significantly expanded following the war and following its closure in the early 1980s, became the first campus of the Northern Territory University . The eastern portion of Larrakeyah, towards Emery Point is occupied by Larrakeyah Barracks , a large Australian Defence Force base that incorporates HMAS Coonawarra , headquarters of
8736-468: The small local population provided hot meals to the refugees who stopped there. Approximately 24 hours after the storm hit Darwin, the population of Alice Springs had raised over $ 105,000 (~A$ 665,000 in 2022 terms ) to assist the victims of Tracy. In Melbourne at the Boxing Day Test cricket match between Australia and England , members of both teams moved around the boundaries carrying buckets which
8840-528: The southwest, and Bennett Street on the southeast. The CBD has been the focus of a number of major projects, such as the billion-dollar redevelopment of the Stokes Hill wharf waterfront area, including a convention centre with seating for 1,500 people and approximately 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) of exhibition space. The developers announced that this includes hotels, residential apartments, and public space. The city's main industrial areas are along
8944-498: The storm. Station manager Bob Hooper, who was an amateur radio operator , helped to establish communications using his own equipment. By 10 a.m., Gary Gibson, another amateur operator, was able to establish a station at the Darwin Community College, and within a short period of time, a network of stations was established across the country. This network, coordinated by Melbourne D24 police, provided message services to
9048-607: The strength of the gusts. Residents of Darwin were celebrating Christmas, and they did not immediately acknowledge the emergency, partly because they had been alerted to an earlier cyclone ( Selma ) which passed west of the city, not affecting it in any way. Additionally, news outlets had only a skeleton crew on duty over the holiday. Tracy killed 66 people and caused $ 837 million in damage (1974 AUD , about $ 7.69 billion in 2022, approximately US$ 5.2 billion). It destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of houses. It left more than 25,000 out of
9152-532: The suburb of Muirhead . Darwin has a tropical savanna climate ( Köppen Aw ) with distinct wet and dry seasons, and the average maximum temperature is similar year round. The Australian Building Codes Board classifies it as Climate Zone 1. The NCC Climate zones are a broad classification of climate zones by the NCC ranging from one to eight, categorising the different climates of Australia. The dry season runs from about May to September, during which nearly every day
9256-422: The suburb.. The ferry for Mandorah leaves from the jetty beside the lock. Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( Larrakia : Garramilla ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory , Australia . The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 census . It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australian capital cities and serves as
9360-657: The territory. But some stayed, became British subjects, and established a commercial base in Darwin. The Northern Territory was initially settled and administered by South Australia , until its transfer to the Commonwealth in 1911. In the same year, the city's official name changed from Palmerston to Darwin. 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 1,000 demonstrators marched to Government House at Liberty Square in Darwin, where they burnt an effigy of
9464-496: The town, airfields, and aircraft. 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. Darwin Chinatown which lay within the heart of Darwin was razed to the ground by the Japanese bombing and was never rebuilt. Northern Territory administrator Aubrey Abbott wanted to eliminate the Chinese community and forcibly seized their land as it
9568-427: The warnings.(Bunbury, p. 21) Cyclone Tracy destroyed about 80% of the Darwin city. 94% of housing was uninhabitable. At Darwin Airport, thirty-one aircraft were destroyed and another twenty-five badly damaged. Cyclone Tracy killed 66 people on land and at sea. In the cyclone's aftermath, the number of deaths reported varied from 49 to 66, as an official list of deaths was never compiled. Nearly thirty years later,
9672-462: The wet season, but most days have plentiful cloud cover; January averages under six hours of bright sunshine daily. Darwin's highest daily rainfall verified by the Bureau of Meteorology is 367.6 millimetres (14.47 in), which fell when Cyclone Carlos bore down on the Darwin area on 16 February 2011. February 2011 was also Darwin's wettest month ever recorded, with 1,110.2 millimetres (43.71 in) at
9776-405: The wind vane (wind direction) destroyed after the cyclone's eye passed over. The Bureau of Meteorology's official estimates suggested that Tracy's gusts had reached 240 kilometres per hour (150 mph). The lowest air pressure reading during Tracy was 950 hectopascals (28.05 inHg), which was taken at around 4 a.m., by a Bureau staff member at Darwin Airport. This was recorded during
9880-652: Was built 20 km (12 mi) east 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 hosted 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 30 days. Smith and his crew flew
9984-446: Was considered prime real estate. Darwin was further developed after the war, with sealed roads constructed connecting the region to Alice Springs to the south and Mount Isa to the southeast, 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
10088-631: Was given the task of rebuilding the city "within five years", focusing primarily on building houses. The commission was headed by Tony Powell. The damage to the city was so severe that some advocated moving the entire city. However, the government insisted that it be rebuilt in the same location. By May 1975, Darwin's population had recovered somewhat, with 30,000 residing in the city. Temporary housing, caravans, hotels, and an ocean liner ( MV Patris ), were used to house people, because reconstruction of permanent housing had not yet begun by September that year. Ella Stack became Mayor of Darwin in May 1975 and
10192-452: Was heavily involved in its reconstruction. However, by the following April, and after receiving criticism for the slow speed of reconstruction, the commission had built 3,000 new homes in the nearly destroyed northern suburbs, and completed repairs to those that had survived the storm. Several new building codes were drawn up, trying to achieve the competing goals of the speedy recovery of the area and ensuring that there would be no repeat of
10296-558: Was home to Australian and U.S. pilots during the war, with airstrips built in and around Darwin. Today Darwin provides a staging ground for military exercises . Darwin was a compulsory stopover and checkpoint in the London-to-Melbourne Centenary Air Race in 1934. The official name of the race was the MacRobertson Air Race . Winners of the race were Tom Campbell Black and C. W. A. Scott . The following
10400-523: Was limited to one plane every ninety minutes. At major airports, teams of federal and territory department officials as well as 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 the sick were evacuated first. There were reports of men dressing up as women to escape with
10504-535: Was made on the advice of Dr. Charles Gurd, the Director of Health in the Northern Territory. Around 10,000 people left Darwin and the surrounding area within the first two days, but the rate of departures then began to slow down. The government then gave support to his position, offering full reimbursement of personal costs, as long as the evacuation took place. The population was evacuated by air and ground; because of communications difficulties with Darwin airport, landing
10608-601: Was not completely disabled was the ABC's 8DR . For the next two days, it was Darwin's only link to the outside world and was on the air for all but 34 hours in the coming weeks. Those who remained in Darwin faced the threat of several diseases due to much of the city being without water, electricity, or basic sanitation. An initial response was to vaccinate residents for typhoid and cholera . Approximately 30,000 people were homeless and were forced to seek shelter in several makeshift housing and emergency centres that lacked proper hygienic conditions. Volunteers came in from across
10712-533: Was officially pronounced a tropical cyclone at around 10 p.m. on 21 December, when it was around 200 km (125 mi) to the north-northeast of Cape Don (360 km (225 mi) northeast of Darwin). Cyclone Tracy was first observed on the Darwin radar on the morning of 22 December. Over the next few days, the cyclone moved in a southwesterly direction, passing north of Darwin on 22 December. A broadcast on ABC Radio that day stated that Cyclone Tracy posed no immediate threat to Darwin. However, early in
10816-519: Was sprayed with malathion to control mosquitoes and other similar pests. Attempts to reconnect the essential services to the city began on Christmas Day. Local officers from the Commonwealth Department of Housing and Construction began clearing debris and working to restore power. They sealed off damaged water hydrants and activated pumps to reactivate the city's water and sewerage systems. Major-General Alan Stretton , Director-General of
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