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The first inhabitants of the town were the Larrakia, who established trade routes with Southeast Asia and imported goods from as far away as South and Western Australia. This group created the paths known as songlines (or dreamlines), which allowed the transmission of oral memory.



The Dutch visited the northern coast of the Australian continent in the early 1600s, also being the first Europeans to map the area. From this period are several Dutch names, such as Arnhem Land or Groote Eylandt.



British

The first Briton to see Darwin Harbor was most likely Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of the HMS Beagle on September 9, 1839. Captain John Clements Wickham named the place in honor of the biologist and naturalist Charles Darwin, who was at aboard during his second expedition.



In the early 1870s, Darwin recorded the effects of the Pine Creek gold rush, when employees of the Transaustralian Telegraph Line found gold during excavations for telegraph poles.



At the beginning of 1875, the number of Europeans had risen to 300. In 1875, the ship SS Gothenburg sank, losing more than 80% of its crew, since only 22 men survived, dying between 98 and 112, almost all of Darwin. Due to its proportions, the accident negatively affected the development of the settlement.



20th and 21st centuries At first the Northern Territory was administered by South Australia, until its Commonwealth transfer to 1911. On February 5, 1869, George Goyder established a village of 135 people in Port Darwin, which he named Palmerston, in honor of to Prime Minister Henry John Temple. In 1870, the first poles of the Australian Telegraph Line were erected in Darwin, which would constitute a milestone in the continent's international communications. The discovery of gold at Pine Creek in the 1880s further stimulated the development of the settlement. In 1911, Darwin became the official name of the city.



Between 1911 and 1919 the region went through a great political upheaval, in particular due to social unrest channeled by the unions, which ended on December 17, 1918 when about 1,000 protesters marched to the Darwin Government House where they burned an image of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John Gilruth, calling for his resignation. The incident is known as Darwin's Rebellion.







About 10,000 men from the Allied troops arrived in Darwin in the early 1940s, at the beginning of World War II, to defend the island's northern coastline. On February 19, 1942, 188 Japanese warplanes attacked the city. The air fleet was the same that made the attack on Pearl Harbor, dropping a greater number of bombs in Darwin than in the American port. At least 243 people were killed in the operation, and severe damage was inflicted on the city's infrastructure, constituting the largest military attack in Australian history. Between 1942 and 1943 the attacks on the port continued.





Remains of the Government of Palmerston, destroyed by Cyclone Tracy. Despite the attacks, during the war the development of the city was considerable. In fact, paved roads were built connecting the region to Alice Springs to the south and Mount Isa to the southeast. Similarly, the Manton dam was built in the south of the province to supply the city with water. On Australia Day (that is, the island's independence day, January 26, 1959), the town was granted the status of a city.



On December 25, 1974, the city was hit by Cyclone Tracy, which left 71 people dead and the destruction of more than 70% of the buildings, including the oldest ones. After the disaster, some 30,000 people (out of a total of 43,000) were evacuated and the city was rebuilt with new materials and techniques. In the early 1980s the satellite town of Palmerston was built 20 km to the south.



On September 17, 2003, the railroad between the cities of Adelaide and Darwin was completed.





Darwin is the capital and most populous city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Located next to the Timor Sea, it is located on the northern coast of the country and has a population of 120,652 inhabitants (2006), thus becoming the largest city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory but the least populated of all Australian capital cities. . It is also the northernmost of the Australian capitals and functions as the regional center of the so-called Top End.

Over time, Darwin has grown from a pioneer enclave and small port in Australia to one of Australia's most modern and multicultural cities. Its proximity to Asia makes the city an important gateway to Australia for countries such as Indonesia and East Timor. The Stuart Highway begins in Darwin and ends in Port Augusta, South Australia. The city has a naval base for the Australian Navy.



The city itself is built on a cliff overlooking the harbor. Its suburbs begin at Lee Point in the north and extend to Berrimah in the east. Adjacent to Berrimah is the Stuart Highway, which connects the satellite city of Darwin, Palmerston, and the suburbs.



The Darwin Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in 1989, and has performed throughout the Northern Territory. The Darwin Theater Company is a professional theater production company, working locally and nationally.



The Darwin Entertainment Center is the main concert hall in the city and hosts orchestral and tetral performances. Other theaters include the Darwin Convention Center, still under construction, which is part of the $ 1.1 billion Darwin Waterfront project.



July 1 is celebrated as Territory Day. This is the only day of the year, apart from Chinese New Year, on which fireworks are allowed. In Darwin, the main celebrations occur at Mindil Beach, where a huge fireworks display is commissioned by the government.



The weekly markets are the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, (Thursdays and Sundays during the dry season), the Parap Market, the Nightcliff Market and the Rapid Creek Market.





Nightcliff Seabreeze Festival. The Darwin Festival is held annually, including comedy, dance, theater, music, visual and film arts, and the NT Indigenous Music Awards. Other festivals include Glenti, which serves as a showcase for Darwin's larger Greek community, and Indin at Mindil, a similar festival celebrated by the small Indian community. The Chinese New Year is celebrated with great festivities, highlighting the Asian influence in Darwin.

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