Top End magic – there’s plenty of adventure culture and history in Darwin

Last updated 24 February 2021

As the capital of the Northern Territory, Darwin is renowned for fun and adventure, but an interesting mixture of history and the slightly obscure is found in the Top End – when you know where to look.

Darwin’s unique charm and character is a by-product not only of its geographical location – history and a couple of natural events played a role. During World War II, on the 19^th of February 1942, the city was heavily bombed by the same Japanese air force which struck Pearl Harbour three months earlier. Darwin suffered significant damage from the attacks and had to rebuild. Then in the early hours of Christmas morning 1974, Cyclone Tracy unleashed its fury, decimating 70% of the city. Another rebuild contributed to the cosmopolitan city’s current ‘youthful’ appearance. Apart from a few buildings and a cluster of heritage-listed houses at the Myilly Point Heritage Precinct (see Burnett House below) most of Darwin’s buildings are just reaching middle age – a smidge over four decades young.

Airnorth together we fly magazine Darwin story pp26-29- Dec.Jan 2019.2020 for the PDF of the story published in this month’s Airnorth inflight magazine, together we fly

Did you know?

There are approximately 150,000 saltwater crocodiles and 100,000 freshwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory Waterways.  With a population of 245,854 (2018 figures), there are more crocs than people in the NT!