Australian Travel - Northern Territory

Darwin's History

Darwin's history is a colourful mix of aboriginal skirmishes, gold rush, Japanese WW II bombings and cyclone devastation. For more than a century Darwin was Australia's pioneering outpost in the isolated north, but today with Indonesia only a short flight away, it is our northern gateway to South East Asia and beyond.

John Lort Stokes, Commander of The Beagle, first named Port Darwin in 1839, in honour of Charles Darwin, the famous scientist and naturalist who had accompanied him to South America.

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. The traditional Aboriginal owners, the Larrakai, did not welcome the invasion, and several fierce clashes ensued. The coastal region in and around Darwin with it's diverse plant communities of mangroves, woodlands, paperbark swamps and coastal monsoon vine forests provided the Larrakai with a varied diet and the raw material from which they constructed their tools and implements. Clashes with settlers continued throughout the Territory resulting in the aboriginal communities being decimated.

An important Aboriginal site called the Dariba Nunggalinya (Old Man Rock) is located off Casuarina Coastal Reserve. Visible at low tide, this sacred site is believed to be the final resting place of the first Larrakai man. There have been claims that Cyclone Tracey was a consequence of the disturbance of Nunggalinya's resting place. Today it is estimated that one quarter of the Territory's population are aboriginal.

During the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line between Port Augusta and Darwin from 1870 to 1872, line workers uncovered some alluvial gold near Pine Creek, about 200km south of Darwin. This minor gold rush attracted more than 7000 Chinese and a handful of Europeans which was the beginning of the extraordinary cultural mix that is now Darwin. In 1884, the pearling industry brought people from Japan, Thursday Island, Timor and the Philippines, many of whose ancestors are prominent families in Darwin today.

In the 1950's many Greeks began to arrive in Darwin and went on to become leaders in the pearling and construction industries. With the close proximity to South East Asia there is now a diverse mix of Asian nationalities with many refugees from Timor and Vietnam calling Darwin home.

But no two events have shaped Darwin's history more than the Japanese Bombing and Cyclone Tracey.

Japanese Bombing
In 1942 the Darwin population was approximately 2000. There was believed to be only 63 women, about 300 military personel with the balance made up of civilian workers. On Thursday 19 February, with the temperature hovering at 33 degrees in the shade and the humidity around 90 per cent, Darwin was waking to another hot day. The wet season was tailing off but you could still "cut the air with a knife". There were 44 ships in the harbour and their sailors were already sweating in the heat.

The incoming Japanese planes were first spotted by Father John McGrath at the Bathurst Island mission north of Darwin. He radioed Darwin at 9.30am and this message was passed to RAAF command at 9.37am. Strangely no general warning was given and there was no sounding of alarms. At the first sound of planes many were confused and thought they may be Australian or American because they flew in from the south. The first siren wailed at 9.58am as the Japanese began dropping their bombs. The air raid lasted more than an hour with 188 planes dropping more than 300 bombs and 243 people killed and over 300 wounded.

Darwin was gripped by panic. Training went out the window as the stampede to exit Darwin as quickly as possible began. In what later became known as the "Adelaide River Stakes" people of all colours and creeds walked, ran, rode bikes, horses and drove cars not stopping until they reached Adelaide River 115kms south. Deplorable behaviour perhaps but, with no water and electricity, rumours abounding, no communication and leaders lacking the skill to take charge, wholly understandable. The following day headlines in eastern states announced 15 killed and 24 injured. General confusion or military propoganda?. We will never know for sure but with Australia reeling under the fall of Singapore and other "bad" news the woes of Darwin were quickly off the front pages. Between February 1942 and October 1943, the Japanese launched more than 60 air raids on Darwin. It was not until the Americans sent reinforcements in April 1942 that the Japanese started to endure heavy losses. Later some of the RAAF's aces were sent to further support the fight back.

One of the interesting mysteries of war is the story of Hajime Toyoshima who crashed landed on Melville Island after the February 19 raid. A float plane was sent from one of the Japanese escorting cruisers but they failed to locate him. It was belived that he was found by Aborigines and taken to the mission station. His name, however, has never appeared in Australian records of Japanese prisoners, nor among those who returned to Japan at the end of the war or died in captivity. He simply vanished. Interestingly, this information was supplied by Fushida, the leader of the Japanese raid on 19 February, who later became a Christian lay preacher and lived in California.

Cyclone Tracey
Darwin was again under siege on 25 December 1974 when Cyclone Tracey struck with devastating fury killing 64 residents and injuring thousands. The city of 43,000 residents was completely destroyed. In what became the largest airlift in Australian history more than 30,000 people were flown out of Darwin. As a consequence of Cyclone Tracey, Darwin was rebuilt and is therefore the newest and most modern capital city in the nation.

Today, Australia's only tropical city boasts a population of 77,000 who, like the city itself, are younger on average than the rest of Australia. The relaxed lifestyle, magnificent sunsets, pristine natural environment, multicultural mix and tropical splendour all create a unique experience. You should visit the Northern Territory - as the advertising catchcry says "you'll never never know if you never never go".