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Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, and is situated on the Timor Sea and is the largest city in the territory.

Darwin’s city centre features a number of wide streets, leafy parks, retail outlets and outdoor dining. Modern structures mix with old colonial-style buildings. Buildings within the city vary greatly and a number of significant changes to the CBD have a occured since it was established, both planned and as a result of natural disasters such as cyclones, like Cyclone Tracy that pummeled the city on Christmas Day, 1974.

The traditional owners of the Darwin area are the Larrakia (saltwater) people. In the 1839, European settlers arrived in the area aboard HMS Beagle in the area now known as Darwin Harbour. Darwin was originally founded as Palmerston in 1869 and is named after Charles Darwin, the former shipmate of Lt. John Lort Stokes, who sailed HMS Beagle into the region. In 1911, Palmerston was renamed Darwin. The port had always be known from the commencement of European settlement as Port Darwin prior to the renaming. In 1959, Darwin became a city. 1

• Population: 136 828 2
• Postcode: (Darwin) 0800
• Location: 2616 km from Adelaide SA, 2651 km from Perth WA and 2846 km from Brisbane QLD
• Main Roads: Stuart Highway A1 and Tiger Brennan Drive A15
• Radio Stations: DAB+: ABC Darwin, ABC Radio National, ABC News Radio, ABC Classic FM, ABC Jazz, Triple J, Triple J Unearthed, Double J, ABC Country, ABC Grandstand, ABC Kids Listen, SBS Radio 1, SBS Radio 2. SBS Radio 3, SBS Radio 4, SBS Chill, SBS Pop Asia, SBS Arabic 24, SBS Pop Desi, Hot 100, Mix 104.9, Kix Country, Radio TAB and Classic Rock Digital. FM: ABC Classic FM (107.3 MHz), ABC NewsRadio (102.5 MHz), ABC Radio Darwin (105.7 MHz), Darwin FM X-stream (91.50 MHz), Darwin's 97.7 (97.70 MHz), Hot 100 (100.1 MHz), Kix Country (92.30 MHz), Mix 104.9 (104.9 MHz), Radio Larrakia (94.50 MHz), SBS Radio (100.9 MHz), Territory FM (104.1 MHz), Triple J (103.3 MHz) and Yolŋu Radio (88.9 MHz). AM: 2MM Greek Radio (1656 KHz), Radio National (657 KHz), Radio TAB (1242 KHz) and Rete Italia (1611 KHz).

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Preview:	Description:
	Darwin CBD: A view of Darwin CBD from Tiger Brennan Dr (A15), July 2017. Image © Michael Greenslade
	Parliament House: Parliament House, Darwin, July 2017. The Northern Territory Legislative Assembly operates from this building, and has done so since 1994. 3 Image © Michael Greenslade
	The Mall: The Mall, Darwin, July 2017. The Mall is a section of Smith St that has been pedestrianised and turned into a shopping precinct. The Mall was completed in 1979. Image © Michael Greenslade
	Stokes Hill Wharf: Overlooking Stokes Hill Wharf, Darwin, July 2017. The first wharf built in 1885-86 was called the Port Darwin Jetty or Railway Jetty, it closed in 1897 due to the risk of collapse. The second wharf was built in 1903 and was called the Town Wharf, the bridge section was destroyed in 1942 by a Japanese bombing raid, but the Australian Army built a temporary bridge so it could remain in service. The third wharf, which is the current wharf, was built and completed in 1956 and was the main wharf for Darwin until the Darwin Port at East Arm was completed in 2000. Image © Michael Greenslade

1 City of Darwin, History
2 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016 Census QuickStats
3 Legislative Assembly of Northern Territory, Tours of Parliament House

Last updated: 01-Jan-2019 15:33

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