Darwin
Darwin lies at the northern end of the Stuart
Highway and is the capital of the Northern Territory, informally
known as the Top End, and it is named after the English naturalist
Charles Darwin.
Main reason for tourists visiting Darwin is to see crocodiles
in the wild, see some Aboriginal culture and to visit the nearby
National Parks like Kakadu, Litchfield and Katherine Gorge / Nitmiluk.
In between people entertain themselves with a city tour or a visit
to Mindil Beach Markets.
Smith St. mall in Darwin city centre
Nowadays it is a modern city but not so long ago
it was still a large outback town with, due to the hot climate,
the highest beerconsumption of any city in the world. It is very
cosmopolitan though there are no ghettos of certain nationalities
like in some of the bigger cities and the international mix of
people becomes evident at the many markets in Darwin where you
can find cheap eats from almost any country you can think of.
The city is also surrounded by beautiful beaches and enjoys spectacular
sunsets. Within a few hours drive of Darwin you find spectacular
national parks like Kakadu, Litchfield and many other attractions.
Darwin is known for beer drinking and crocodiles
and hardly a day goes by without some news on crocs in the local
paper, though most crocodile
attacks seem to occur on locals that ignore the basic safety
rules. Luckily at TIO Insurance you can get crocodile insurance.
Darwin has a compact city centre but a drive out
to the suburbs can be up to 20 km. as the city is built around
the big international airport, also the main police station and
hospital are in the most remote corners of the city.
Darwin's climate has only two seasons, wet and dry. During the
dry there won't be a drop of rain for half a year and temperatures
are pleasant, especially at night. During the wet the landscape
makes a rapid change from brown to green and there are spectacular
lightning storms that attract photographers from all over the
world. If you visit Darwin in the wet you will find that it is
less crowded, easier to find accommodation and the rains most
of the time only consist of a late afternoon downpour.
This city is the main arrival and departure hub for all those
that want to see Kakadu, Litchfield and other Top End attractions.
Darwin's population is fairly transient and it is a relatively
new city as it was virtually wiped out by cyclone
Tracy in 1974 and had to be almost completely rebuilt, though
some of the old sandstone buildings survived.
Lyon's cottage, the old Telegraph Residence
In the early days of Australia the British were
worried the French or Dutch would make themselves at home
in the north so it was decided that the Northern Territory
needed a settlement. But with the heat, cyclones and a malaria
outbreak, early settlers found it hard going trying to establish
themselves here and from 1824 onwards several attempts were
made and later abandoned until finally in 1869 Darwin was
founded. It was first named Palmerston but as it became unofficially
known as Port Darwin it was renamed in 1911, now the name
Palmerston has been assigned to the satellite city 15km. south
of Darwin.
Darwin had a bit of a boomtime when gold was discovered at
Pine Creek in 1871 but the big boom happened in World War
Two. In February, 1942, the Japanese air force bombed the
city in a Pearl Harbour style surprise attack. Over 240 Australians
lost their lives in the raids. In all there were 64 raids
on the city. Many allied forces were stationed here to fight
the Japs in Asia and the Pacific, this also led to the Stuart
Highway being built that connected the city with the rest
of the country for the first time.
Darwin experienced a setback when on Christmas Day 1974 the
city was hit by cyclone Tracy. Countless houses were totally
destroyed, (only 400 survived intact), 25 ships sunk in the
harbour, 35 planes destroyed at the airport and all communications
were cut. After the cyclone thousands were evacuated to cities
in the south and many never returned.
Since the 1990s the city has started growing more when the
army started moving more soldiers up there from down south,
finally they realized that if Australia were ever to be attacked
it would be by people from the north and not by penguins from
the South Pole.
Another milestone in Darwin's history is the railway, after
more than a hundred years of talking about it the 1420 km.
N.T. railway has finally been built and was completed in October
2003 at a cost of $ 1.3 billion, the first train arrived in
Darwin on January 17, 2004, but Territorians wanting to celebrate
at the arrival of the train were shocked to find it was an
alcohol-free event!
Darwin is Australia's hottest city with an annual
rainfall of 1659 mm, this falls between December and May,
then you won't see a drop for half a year. It is hot all year
round, with two distinct seasons, the Wet and the Dry. The
Dry Season temperatures are very pleasant with the mercury
going down overnight to around 18 degrees Celsius and up to
about 28 degrees during the day with no humidity (and no rain).
General temperatures for the Wet Season are 28 to 33 degrees
with high humidity.
With Darwin being a very hot place someone in the 1990s tried
to get Darwin to change to the Mexican system of having a siesta
in the heat of the day and then returning to work later. This
idea was discarded as rather than going to sleep at midday, Darwinites
were more likely to go to the pub which would make them pretty
useless for work after a few hours in there.
