Timeline of Darwin history

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This list shows notable events for Darwin, nowadays the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Note: When Darwin was first settled, it was called Palmerston and the port was called Port Darwin. In 1911 the town was renamed Darwin due to the common usage of the name.

19th Century

[edit]
Year Date Event
1839 9 September HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin Harbour during its surveying of the area. John Clements Wickham named the area Port Darwin in honour of their former shipmate Charles Darwin. The settlement became the town of Palmerston in 1869 and was renamed Darwin in 1911.[1]
1862 24 July John McDouall Stuart reached the beach at Chambers Bay (east of present-day Darwin).
1869 5 February George Goyder and survey party arrive in Port Darwin (Palmerston)[1]
1869 27 March Gulnare arrives in Darwin with stores and reinforcements.[1]
1869 24 May J. W. O. Bennett speared by Aborigines; he died and was buried on top of Fort Hill later being moved to the Pioneers Section of the General Cemetery.
1869 9 August Richard Hazard died of consumption. Buried on Fort Hill and later moved, 3 November 1965, to McMillans Road Cemetery

1870s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1870 Construction of the first Government House
Palmerston Cemetery opened in Goyder Road it was closed in 1919.
15 September First telegraph pole planted in a ceremony[2] by Harriet Douglas.
1871 First Telegraph office erected in Palmerston[3]
7 November Undersea cable comes ashore the telegraph fleet then lays the cable to Java[3]
1872 22 August The Overland Telegraph Line linking Darwin and Adelaide opened.[1][2]
1873 Protestant church built in Knuckey Street near Mitchell Street. Destroyed in the cyclone of 1897.
English, Scottish and Australian (E S & A) Bank establishes branch in Palmerston (Darwin)[1][3]
November Northern Territory Times begins publishing and ceases 1932.[3]
1874 Chinese start to be brought to Darwin to act as labourers.
19 June First Hospital above Doctors Gully completed[3][4] Built largely by public subscription it is extended further in 1876.
5 December Town of Palmerston gazetted.[3] name changed to Darwin in 1911.
1875 25 February SS Gothenburg lost off coast of Queensland with many prominent Northern Territory citizens on board.[3]
1877 January First school opens in Palmerston with 34 pupils; teacher John Holt.[3]
1879 Main section of Government House completed.[2]
October New Police Station building in use[3] on the corner of Mitchell Street and the Esplanade. Now the site of the Supreme Court.

1880s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1882 Fannie Bay Gaol was built between 1882 and 1883.
April Northern Territory Racing Club is established at Palmerston.[3]
17 August Foundation stone laid for Town Hall, on Smith Street, which was designed by John George Knight.[3]
1883 5 March Palmerston Town Hall opens[2][5] on Smith Street. Destroyed by Cyclone Tracy, now only the remains at both ends are visible.
1 June Northern Australian (Newspaper) begins publishing.[3]
1883 20 September Fannie Bay Gaol opens and begins to receive prisoners.[3]
1885 Commencement of rail services to Pine Creek starts.
March Terminus Hotel on Smith Street opened.
February Foundation stone laid for Browns Mart at the time known as "Solomon's Mart"[6] located on Smith Street.
1886 First wooden jetty complete and handed over.[3]
1886 4 December Steam locomotive 'Sandfly' arrives in the NT aboard the vessel Armistice[3]
1887 Commercial Bank completed known as the "Stone Bank" on the corner of Smith and Bennett Streets.
Original Fannie Bay Gardens moved to present site of Darwin Botanical Gardens.[3]
20 May Locomotive 'Sandfly' begins operation and retires in 1950[3] presently located at the Parap Qantas Hangar.
1888 6122 Chinese living in the Northern Territory. most in or around Darwin.[7]
First Catholic Church completed[2] located on Smith Street where the present day cathedral is sited.
27 April SS Ellengowan sinks in Darwin Harbour.
16 July Railway service to Adelaide River begins.[3]
10 December Railway service to Burrundie begins.[3]
1889 1 October Opening of Darwin/Pine Creek railway, 145 miles 34 chains.[3]

1890s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1890 6 June North Australian and Times newspapers amalgamate.[3]
1891 Victoria Hotel completed[2] then called North Australian Hotel[3] renamed to Victoria Hotel in 1896.
Rapid Creek mission is abandoned.[3]
1897 6-7 January Cyclone devastates Palmerston (Darwin).[1][2]

Twentieth century

[edit]

1900s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1902 Original Christ Church opens in Palmerston.[3] It is destroyed in 1974 by Cyclone Tracy.
1903 New jetty completed.[3]
1906 15 August Father Francis Xavier Gsell MSC arrives in Palmerston.[3]
1907 Some hotels and private homes in Palmerston are lit by acetylene gas.[3]

1910s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1911 1 January Transfer of Northern Territory from South Australia to Commonwealth.[3]
Palmerston renamed to Darwin as most of the town residents were already using the name.[1][2]
Palmerston No. 1 Boy Scout troop is established.[3]
May Northern Territory Supreme Court established first judge Samuel James Mitchel.l[3]
1912 Electricity generation begins when the Northern Territory Administration and Mr Felix Holmes begin producing power.
1913 25 September Darwin Radio Station comes into service in Gardens Road.[8]
19 October Kahlin Compound opens.[3]
1914 Construction of Vesteys meatworks on Bullocky Point begins.[3]
1915 Darwin Town Council was created.
1917 First killing season at Vesteys meatworks.
1918 17 December The Darwin Rebellion takes place, with 1000 demonstrators demanding the resignation of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John A. Gilruth.
1919 Airstrip cleared in Parap.
Gardens cemetery opens replacing Palmerston cemetery on Goyder Road. Closes in 1970 containing 1200 graves.
20 February Dr John A. Gilruth and his family depart Darwin in the night aboard HMAS Encounter after Government House being placed under virtual siege for several weeks.
10 December 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 thirty days.

1920s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1920 Vesteys meatworks closes. It was used for a short time in 1925, but never operated again after that.[2]
1922 High School classes commence in Darwin. Victor Lampe is the principal. Preparatory class and examinations for entry held in 1921.
20 October Soldiers' Memorial Hall was opened on Smith Street.
1924 Construction of oil tanks (Oil & Fuel Installation (OFI)) starts on Stokes Hill.[9] The oil tanks were to provide a naval refuelling facilities as part of the Singapore Strategy.
1925 Lyons Cottage built[2] on the corner of The Esplanade and Knuckey Streets.
1928 22 February Bert Hinkler arrives in Darwin on first solo flight between England and Australia.
1929 1 September Star Theatre on Smith Street opens.
October Four oil tanks on Stokes Hill completed and filled.[9]

1930s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1930 24 May Amy Johnson arrives in Darwin.[3] She becomes the first female aviator to conquer the London to Darwin solo flight.[10]
1931 Leprosarium starts operation on Channel Island and closes in 1955.
November Terminus Hotel closes on Cavenagh Street where the current Civic Centre is located.
1932 8 January Terminus Hotel demolished. Materials from the demolition are used in the building of the fortification on East Point.
17 May Australian Cabinet approves the "Emergency Scheme for the Fortification of Darwin"[9]
2 September "Darwin Detachment", 5 officers and 42 men arrive in Darwin to start building fortifications.[9]
1934 22 May 2 newly installed guns test fired on East Point.[9]
30 December QANTAS hangar in Parap built.
Darwin City Council builds a power station in Woods Street.
1937 March Darwin hit by severe cyclone,[2] only one life was lost.
13 April Site selected for RAAF Base.
Darwin's first power station built on Lindsey Street and 24-hour service is provided.
1938 Commencement of the construction of the RAAF Base.
Francis Xavier Gsell created first Catholic Bishop of Darwin.
1939 Burnett House built on Myilly Point now part of the National Trust precinct.[2]
Five steel elevated water storage tanks are completed around Darwin. A ground level tank is erected at Stokes Hill and the elevated water control tank constructed at RAAF Base Darwin.
March Two hundred men of Mobile Force arrive in Darwin[9] to man fortification.

1940s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1940 Hotel Darwin completed on Herbert Street.
Boom Defence Net across Darwin Harbour put in place.
7 June Second power station located on Armidale Street is commissioned. Closed in 1968.
1941 12 December General evacuation of women, children, the aged and infirm of Darwin begins, five days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
1942 January Myilly Point Hospital opens as a 90-bed pavilion type hospital.[11]
1 January Aircraft carrier USS Langley operates anti-submarine patrols.
21 January I-124 was an I-121-class submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy that was sunk off Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, on 21 January 1942, during World War II. I-124 was conducting mine laying operations and attacking shipping along with three other submarines along the northern coast of Australia.
19 February Japanese air raids – almost 100 attacks against sites in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland (to 1943). Bombing of Darwin sees largest attack on Australia by a foreign power. 243 people were killed in the initial raids on 19 February 1942.
1943 Construction of oil storage tunnels begins.
1945 October Boom Defence Net which crossed the entrance to Darwin Harbour removed.
1946 Reticulated water supply is made available to Darwin residents.
Residents return to Darwin after end of WW2.
Chung Wah Society established.
1949 10 March Town of Nightcliff gazetted.[3]

1950s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1951 1 September First Darwin Exhibition (Show) at Winnellie Show grounds.[12]
1952 7 August Last execution conducted at Fannie Bay Gaol.[13]
8 February NT News begins publishing.[3]
1954 20 April Defection of Mrs Petrov at Darwin Airport sparks Petrov Affair.
1955 3 January Premiere of "Jedda" film in the Star Theatre.
1956 February Darwin High School opens on Bullocky Point—the site of the old Vestey's meatworks.[3]
November New Stokes Hill Wharf opens.[3]
1957 1 July The people of Darwin elected for the first time a Mayor and 12 Councillors.
1958 Vestey's meatworks demolished.
12 February Parap School opens.[8]
13 July Foundation stone laid for St Mary's War Memorial Cathedral.
1959 26 January Darwin, with a population of 12,700, becomes a city[3] due to an extensive increase in population and economic growth.

1960s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1960 New Post Office constructed on the corner of Smith and Knuckey Street.
May Parap swimming pool opened.[14]
17 June Woolworths buys out A E Jolly & Co on the corner of Smith Street and Knuckey Street.[3]
1962 14 June Stokes Hill Power Station (Stage 1) opened by the Hon Paul Hasluck MHR. Stage 1 had a capacity of 15 MW or 21.42 MW if you included the diesel station.[11]
19 August St Mary's War Memorial Cathedral consecrated[3] on Smith Street.
1963 February Larrakeyah School opens.[3]
1965 Paspalis drive-in theatre opens in Nightcliff closed in 1985.
January Sound Shell in the Gardens amphitheatre is opened.[14] Official opening 22 May 1965 by Mayor N. H. Cooper.
11 May Dead baby found in mailbag, crime never solved.[15]
August 30 Squadron forms Darwin detachment and installs 4 Bloodhound missiles near Lee Point an additional 4 are added later.
1966 May Stuart Park School opens.[3]
25 June Rapid Creek Primary School opened by the Administrator R. L. Dean.[11]
1967 19 June Darwin Maru arrives on its maiden voyage to load the first shipment of iron ore from the new iron ore handling wharf at Fort Hill.[11]
August Nightcliff swimming pool opened.[14]
1968 Armidale Street power station closes down.
28 March Reserve Bank building on the corner of Smith and Bennett Streets opened.
September 30 Squadron Darwin detachment ceases operation.
20 December Civic Centre foundation stone laid.
1969 6 May Kurringal flats complex opens in Fannie Bay.[3]
18 August New Civic Centre in Darwin opened by Duke of Kent.[3]

1970s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1970 Construction commences on Darwin River Dam.
February Nightcliff High School opens, this is Darwin's second high school[3]
November New Police Headquarters opened on the corner of Mitchell and Bennett Streets.[3]
1971 Travel Lodge on the Esplanade starts construction.
Casuarina Zone substation is built to service the rapidly developing northern suburbs of Darwin.
Casuarina 4.5ML elevated water reservoir constructed.[11]
Nightcliff High School completed.[11]
War Memorial moved to Civic Park behind Browns Mart.[14]
3 March T&G Building on Smith Street opened by the Hon F. C. Chaney CBE AFC.
13 August Darwin gets first TV transmission.[3] Opening of ABD 6 Television studios, 12 August, and the establishment of national (ABC) television services in Darwin.
1972 4 November Train derailment at Frances Bay.
29 June Darwin River Dam officially opened by the Prime Minister the Rt Hon William McMahon.[11]
July Supersonic passenger plane Concorde lands in Darwin
27 July Town of Sanderson gazetted.[3]
1973 Casuarina High School completed.[11]
7 February Northern Territory Administration abolished and replaced by the Department of the Northern Territory.[11]
24 May Casuarina Shopping Centre opened.[14]
8 June The Territorian International Hotel officially opened by the Minister for the Northern Territory, K. E. Enderby
1974 25 February Contract awarded for the construction of Casuarina Hospital Main Block to John Holland.[11]
9 March Prince Philip and Earl Louis Mountbatten commence two-day visit to Darwin.
10 March Prince Philip officially opens Darwin Community College.[11]
May Darwin Rocksitters Club established.
18 May Travel Lodge on the Esplanade officially opened by Administrator Jack Nelson. It was the tallest building in Darwin at the time at ten storeys.
June Darwin Golf Club moves from Fannie Bay to Marrara to make room for a new arterial road.
16 June First Darwin Beer Can Regatta.[3]
October Price control on petrol introduced in the Darwin area.
24-25 December Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin. 66 known dead.
1975 January 25,000 people evacuated from Darwin in six days after Cyclone Tracy.
14 February Liner Patris arrives in Darwin to act as a floating hostel post Cyclone Tracy.[11]
28 February Darwin Reconstruction Commission established by the Darwin Reconstruction Act.[11]
May Darwin elects its first female Mayor, Dr Ella Stack.
1 May Princess Anne and Captain Mark Philips visit Darwin to inspect the damage after Cyclone Tracy.
19 August QANTAS resumes flights to Darwin after Cyclone Tracy.
30 December Telford International Hotel opened, now called the Darwin Frontier Hotel. Previously it was called the Territorian International Hotel which opened on 8 June 1973.
1976 February 1,400 new cyclone-resistant homes in Anula and Walagi completed.
8 March Darwin Motor Vehicle Registry commences business in a new building on Goyder Road.
26 April First Vietnamese boat people arrive in Darwin.[3]
29 May Reconstruction begins on Christ Church Anglican Cathedral after destruction from Cyclone Tracy.
30 June Palmerston (Darwin) to Pine Creek Railway cease operation by order of the Commonwealth Government.[8]
17 July The annual, long standing, Northern Territory News Walkabout is revived after a lapse and on a new course.
November Trans Australian Airlines (TAA) opens offices in Bennett Street.
23 November The new $1.4 million Customs House is opened by the Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs, Mr John Howard MP.
December Darwin Reconstruction Commission proposes to convert part of Smith Street into a mall.
1977 January Price control on petrol in the Northern Territory lifted.
13 March New Christ Church Cathedral consecrated in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.[3] The Cathedral replaced the church that was destroyed in Cyclone Tracy.
26 March Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II unveils plaques at the Civic Centre to commemorate those that lost their lives in Cyclone Tracy.
9 November Custom Credit House opened by Mr Roger Steele MLA.
31 December Darwin Reconstruction Commission winds up.[11]
1978 April Work starts on Smith Street mall and is open on 16 November 1979.[14]
5 April Tracy Lodge, the first elderly people's home in Darwin, opens on Wood Street.
12 April Darwin Reconstruction Commission officially closes down.
7 July The first-nuclear powered warship to visit Darwin, the USS Bainbridge, anchors in Darwin Harbour on a six-day goodwill visit.
25 September AMP building opened by the Chief Minister Paul Everingham.
28 September Darwin's new Chinese Temple, located between Woods and Litchfield Streets is officially opened.
23 October Indonesian Consulate is established in Darwin.
1979 19 May Inaugural Freds Pass Rural Show opens.
1 July First Bougainvillea Festival[3] with entertainer Mr Rolf Harris as patron and special guest. Later called the Darwin Festival.
21 July The gigantic salt water crocodile, Sweetheart, dies while being captured.
1 September Fannie Bay Gaol closes[3] and a new $4.2 M Darwin Prison opens at Berrimah. 116 prisoners are transferred over two days.
21 September First casino in Darwin opens in temporary quarters in the Don Hotel on Cavenagh Street.
November Dr Ella Stack became Darwin's first Lord Mayor.
16 November Work is completed on Darwin's Smith Street shopping mall and is officially opened by Mayor Dr Ella Stack.

1980s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1980 11 February Casuarina Library opened by the Hon Nicholas Donda MLA.
24 April Town of Palmerston is gazetted; it was being called Darwin East.
May Work starts on Karama subdivision in the Northern Suburbs.
22 July Dick Ward Drive officially opened by the Hon Roger Steele MLA.
25 July The Governor General Sir Zelman Cowen open the Darwin's 29th Annual Show the first to be declared Royal.[3]
19 September New hospital at Casuarina is opened by Prime Minister J. M. Fraser.[3]
1981 4 March Paspalis Centrepoint on Smith Street opened by the Chief Minister Paul Everingham.
14 July New Fort Hill Wharf is opened.
10 September Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences officially opened by Sir Zelman Cowen Governor General of Australia at Bullocky Point.
4 December West Lane Car Park opened by the Chief Minister Paul Everingham MLA.
10 December Darwin Plaza on Smith Street opened by the Hon Paul Everingham Chief Minister.
20 December Bagot Road Flyover officially open by the Hon Nick Dondas MLA.
24 December Administrators Office, on the corner of Smith Street and the Esplanade, opens after being repaired from the damage done by Cyclone Tracy.
1982 3 July Parap open air market begins in Darwin.
17 September Casuarina Coastal Reserve is officially declared a Conversation Area.
6 October Darwin Naval Base extensions at Larrakeyah are officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
29 October Lindy and Michael Chamberlain convicted of murder of their daughter Azaria, Lindy jailed in Berrimah Jail
1983 21 April Mindil Beach Federal Hotel Casino officially opened by the Hon Paul Everingham the Chief Minister.[3]
19 September Restored Fannie Bay Gaol is officially re-opened as a museum by the Hon Marshall Perron.
1984 23 June Menzies School of Health Research is officially opened by the Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen.
20 October Singer Cliff Richard performs at the Darwin Amphitheatre.
21 December Darwin Community College renamed the Darwin Institute of Technology.
1985 14 April Tropical Cyclone Gretel (Cat 2) fells a large number of trees in Darwin but there is minimal structural damage.
27 May RAAF Mirage 3 crashes on approach to Darwin Airport. Pilot ejected safely and the aircraft landed on the mud flats
22 June First local council elections held in Palmerston.
28 June Berrimah Police Centre opened by the Hon Ian Tuxworth.
1986 7 Feb Lindy Chamberlain released from Berrimah Jail when evidence of her innocence emerges
23 April Beaufort Hotel complex opens on the Esplanade.
19 May Performing Arts Centre completed, now known as the Darwin Entertainment Centre[14] Opened by Commodore E. E. Johnston AM OBE.
14 July The Sheraton Hotel opens on Mitchell Street. Currently known as the Hilton.
29 November Pope John Paul II visits Darwin.
1987 1 January First boat passes through the lock of the Darwin Fishing Harbour Mooring Basin (known by locals as the Duckpond).
23 February The University College of the Northern Territory is opened in the remodelled old Darwin Hospital building at Myilly Point.
23 April The Mindil Beach Markets open.
24 May O'Loughlin Catholic College is officially opened.
6 September Channel Island Power Station opened.
1 November First World Solar Car Challenge, a solar-powered car race from Darwin to Adelaide, starts at Casuarina Shopping Square.
Stokes Hill Power Station is closed.
1988 23 April Atrium Hotel on the Esplanade opened by the Chief Minister Steve Hatton MLA.
May The Cullen Bay Marina Agreement is signed and development commences.
31 October First Private Hospital in the Northern Territory is officially opened.
December Pioneer Walk and Bicentennial Park are opened along The Esplanade.
1989 1 January The first concert of the complete Darwin Symphony Orchestra takes place in Darwin.
28 April The Northern Territory University, formed on 1 January by the amalgamation of the Darwin Institute of Technology and the University College of the Northern Territory, is officially opened.
2 October The Territory Wildlife Park, south of Darwin, is opened to the public.

1990s

[edit]
Year Date Event
1990 2 June Darwin Aviation Museum opens on a site near Darwin Airport.
2 August Foundation stone for new Parliament House laid[16]
1991 January Ansett airlines first ever January sale offers discounted airfares from Darwin to Alice Springs from $648 to $299 and Darwin to Sydney was reduced from $1,156 to $499.
18 May First Arafura Sports Festival held in Darwin and then every 2 years until 2011 (except 2003 due to SARS) cancelled in 2012 by CLP Government. 20 teams from Australia and South East Asia to compete in more than 20 sports.
28 June FM Radio station Hot 100 goes to air in Darwin.
21 July Lake Alexander officially open by Alan K Markham, Lord Mayor of Darwin.
29 November The new Supreme Court Building, part of the State Square project, is officially open by the Administrator, the Hon James Muirhead AC QC.
1992 Darwin's water supply is chlorinated at Darwin River Dam.
The Bayview Haven housing development commences in Darwin.
1994 1 June The Deck Chair Cinema opens in Darwin with the film The Castanet Club.
18 August The new Parliament House building in State Square is opened by the Governor General the Hon Bill Hayden AC.
14 September North Flinders International House opens for the accommodation of students on the campus of the Northern Territory University.
1995 15 February The annual Bougainvillea Festival of Darwin changes its name to The Festival of Darwin.
22 March The Palmerston campus of the Northern Territory University opens.
1996 22 September Physician-assisted death of Bob Dent, the first under the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995.
22 November The new Menzies School of Health Research Building at the hospital campus is opened.
1997 7 February The Darwin Club, one of Darwin's oldest, winds up operations in Admiralty House on the Esplanade after closing its doors in 1996.
12 February Two 70m chimneys, landmarks of the Darwin skyline and the last remaining evidence of the original Stokes Hill Power Station, are demolished.
3 March The Holiday Inn opens on The Esplanade in Darwin.
14 April The All Seasons Darwin Central hotel is opened in Smith Street on the former site of the Darwin Post Office on the corner of Smith and Knuckey Streets.
19 April Refurbished Civic Centre opened by Dr Neil Conn AO.
24 July The Myilly Point campus of the Northern Territory University is closed, completing the consolidation of the University on the Casuarina campus.
3 November The Navy patrol boat HMAS Gawley topples when a shiplift collapses at Darwin Patrol Base.
1998 27 March Darwin's second commercial television station, Channel 7, begins broadcasting in Darwin.
8 April Charles Darwin National Park officially declared by the Hon Tim Baldwin MLA.
21 April The Duke of Edinburgh commences a five-day visit to Darwin.
1999 22 March A fire in a major Darwin sub-station causes more than $400,000 worth of damage and blacks out 9,000 northern suburbs houses.
11 September The historic Hotel Darwin is declared structurally unsound and is demolished.

21st century

[edit]

2000s

[edit]
Year Date Event
2000 East Arm Port opens
2003 21 August The Northern Territory Legislative Assembly passed the Charles Darwin University Act 2003 (NT).
17 September Alice Springs to Darwin railway completed.
2004 1 January Charles Darwin University is formed from merging Alice Springs' Centralian College and the Menzies School of Health Research with the Northern Territory University.
17 January First freight train reaches Darwin on the new Adelaide to Darwin railway.
4 February First passenger train from Adelaide, The Ghan, reaches Darwin.
2008 1 July Convention Centre opens in the Waterfront Precinct.
2009 Major power stations in Darwin receive gas from the Bonaparte Basin offshore.
4 June Four killed in mass shooting.
July East Point Military Museum was renamed as Darwin Military Museum.

2010s

[edit]
Year Date Event
2010 Iron Ore Wharf removed at Fort Hill.
Darwin River Dam spillway is raised by 1.3 metres.
30 August - 1 September Riot and escapes at Northern Immigration Detention Centre.
2011 17 February Cyclone Carlos brings rain and high winds to Darwin.
June Darwin experiences coldest June on record, with 42 nights below 20 degrees.
16 November President Barack Obama spends two hours in Darwin to lay a wreath at the USS Peary memorial and speaks to the Australian and US troops stationed there.
2012 25 October The dredge Athena arrives in Darwin Harbour to begin dredging over the following 18 months the shipping channel for the Inpex project.
1 November NT Government announces cancellation of 2013 bi-annual Arafura Games to save money.
2015 6 April Prince Harry arrives in Darwin to start his month long secondment to the ADF's 1st Brigade.
October Controversy over 99-year lease of Port Darwin to Chinese company.
Last Cab to Darwin movie portrays journey to Darwin in search of euthanasia.
2018 17 March Cyclone Marcus hits Darwin. It uplifts trees and causes powers outages which in some cases lasts for days.
2019 27 April The Arafura Games return to Darwin after an eight-year hiatus.
4 June Mass shooting kills 4.

2020s

[edit]
Year Date Event
2020 9 Feb 266 Australian COVID-19 evacuees flown from Wuhan to Darwin for isolation at Howard Springs camp. A week later 200 flown from Diamond Princess in Japan join them.
1 May NT become one of first areas to relax CoVID-19 restrictions.
14 May Darwin Correctional Facility has a breakout of 21 prisoners leading to the destruction of some buildings.
15 May Territorians allowed to visits pubs again after stage 2 restrictions are eased.
2 June Territorians return to work after lifting of stage 3 restrictions.
1 July Territory Day celebrations cancelled due to COVID-19
17 July Border restrictions are lifted for interstate visitors
8 October Fire rips through NT Oriental Emporium on Bagot Road destroying the building and contents.
6 November Derelict home in the CBD owned by the Chin family destroyed by fire.
12 November Police launch campaign to end increased youth offending in the Northern Suburbs of Darwin.
2021 27 June Darwin placed into COVID-19 lockdown for 3 days at 1 pm, extended, then lifted 2 July at 1 pm.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Lockwood, Douglas (1968). The Front Door.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Carment, David (2005). Australia's Northern Capital A Short History of Darwin. Historical Society of the Northern Territory. ISBN 1876248998.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd Wilson, Helen (1984). The Northern Territory Chronicle - 2nd Edition. Northern Territory University Planning Authority.
  4. ^ Reid, Brian (1996). A Little North of Peels Well: A Landscape history of Darwins First Hospital.
  5. ^ "Opening of the New Town Hall". Northern Territory Times and Gazette. Vol. VIIII, no. 491. Northern Territory, Australia. 10 March 1883. p. 2. Retrieved 1 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Rich, Jenny (1988). Brown's Mart, Darwin A History. Brown's Mart Trustees. ISBN 0731625323.
  7. ^ NT Chinese Museum » Short History
  8. ^ a b c Boland, Judy (2016). Know Where You Stand - Fannie Bay and Surrounds Darwin's Industrial Heartland, 1870–1950. Fannie Bay History and Heritage Society Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-646-95357-1.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Dermoudy, Peter. East Point A History of the Military Precinct, East Point, Darwin. National Trust of Australia (Northern Territory)and the Royal Australian Artillery Assoc (NT). ISBN 0949455067.
  10. ^ "AMY JOHNSON ARRIVES". Northern Territory Times. Vol. 1, no. 62. Northern Territory, Australia. 27 May 1930. p. 1. Retrieved 23 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Redmond, George (2001). In the eye of the storm - Darwin's Development, Cyclone Tracy, and Reconstruction. NT Govt, Dept of Transport and Works. ISBN 0724546227.
  12. ^ "Advertising". Northern Standard. Vol. 6, no. 273. Northern Territory, Australia. 31 August 1951. p. 12. Retrieved 22 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "TWO EXECUTED". Northern Standard. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Heatley, Alistair (1985). A City Grows. Australian National University North Australia Research Unit. ISBN 0867848286.
  15. ^ "Who put baby in mailbag and posted to Darwin?". News.com.au. 18 September 2015.
  16. ^ Parliament House - A history of the site. 1994.
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