Berrimah Road follows the alignment of a 19th-century track that linked a quarantine station at East Arm to Fred's Pass Road, the main thoroughfare south of Darwin prior to the construction of the Stuart Highway. In 1941, during World War II a major field hospital named "Berrimah" was located on the present site of Kormilda College, at the northern end of Berrimah Road. The hospital site was bombed during Japanese air raids on 19 February 1942, and was subsequently relocated inland to Adelaide River, however by this time the name Berrimah Road was in common use for the quarantine station track. The name was officially gazetted in September 1952. The road has been significantly upgraded since the opening of East Arm Port in 2000.