Darwin

Darwin is the Capital of the Australian State of the Northern Territory and has a population of 145,000+

## History

### Once Upon a Darwin

Before White Settlement, Larrakia Aboriginal speech group existed in the area. They are one of the few Aboriginal groups who were involved with trade with the Makassan who thrived in Indonesia. The First European contact was not in-fact by British but by the Dutch in the 1600s, they had landed on the nearby Tiwi Islands but were attacked by the local Aboriginal peoples, they subsequently then began to chart the region. The First British encounter was in 1839 by members of the HMS Beagle. The Port they landed in was named after naturalist, Charles Darwin who had been on an earlier voyage by the Beagle. The South Australian Government who had the Northern Territory turned over to them, decided to build a new capital in the area. The first attempt was in Adelaide River but soon failed and was abandoned in 1835. The second attempt is where the capital remains today, at Port Darwin. However, once again the name changed to Palmerston after the Prime Minister of Britain, Lord Palmerston. The famed Overland Telegraph was first conceived and built in Darwin in 1870 and while workers created holes for the poles, they struck gold in Pine Creek and a Gold Rush began in the small settlement (Darwin). However the then small colony was wrecked by tragedy when a ship wrecked off the Great Barrier Reef killing many of the Town's residetns who went on the voyage.

### Turmoil of the Twentieth Century

In 1911, the small colony was christened upon the name: Darwin. However, the 1910s became a time of political unrest and turmoil through Darwin, which was lifted to the extreme in 1918 when 1000 demonstrators marched up to Darwin's Government House where they burnt a statue of John Gilruth and demanded the resignation of Gilruth for his partnership with Vestey's Meatworks which raised the number of unemployed and taxes through Darwin. Their actions lead to something though as the Vestey Company and Gilruth left Darwin soon after. This was known as 'The Darwin Rebellion'. Darwin became one of the main outposts of the Second World War for the Allies however, this lead to the 'Bombing of Darwin' in which over 100 Japanese Warplanes attacked and bombed the city of Darwin. Researchers believe this is the same group of Japanese soldiers that carried out the Pearl Harbour attacks. The Attack killed 243 people and was the most serious attack on Australia at the time. On Australia Day (January 26th) 1959, Darwin gained city status.

### The Cyclone Attacks, the City Weakens

Perhaps the most infamous moment in Darwin's history is Cyclone Tracy which occured on Christmas Eve 1974. Over 70% of Darwin was destroyed and 71 people were killed by the Cyclone either immediately or in hospital. One such old building, the Palmerston Town Hall could not stand such force from the wind and and collapsed leaving only the door and the gate. The Biggest airlift operation occured to evacuate 30,000 people from Darwin and was rebuilt by Brisbane Lord Mayor Clem Jones throughout the rest of the 1970s. The Name Palmerston did not go to waste though as it eventually became the name of a smaller city south of Darwins through the 1980s