Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin (Larrakia: Garramilla)[8] is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With a population of 139,902 at the 2021 census, the city contains most of the sparsely populated Northern Territory's residents.[1] It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australian capital cities and serves as the Top End's regional centre.
This article is about the city of Darwin. For the local government area, see City of Darwin. For the larger conurbation, see Darwin metropolitan area.
Darwin
Garramilla (Laragia)Northern Territory
44.2196/km2 (114.5283/sq mi)
1869
3,163.8 km2 (1,221.6 sq mi)[2] (2011 urban)
ACST (UTC+9:30)
Port Darwin (and 14 others)
Darwin's proximity to Southeast Asia makes it a key link between Australia and countries such as Indonesia and East Timor. The Stuart Highway begins in Darwin and extends southerly across central Australia through Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, concluding in Port Augusta, South Australia. The city is built upon a low bluff overlooking Darwin Harbour. Darwin's suburbs begin at Lee Point in the north and stretch to Berrimah in the east. The Stuart Highway extends to Darwin's eastern satellite city of Palmerston and its suburbs.
The Darwin region, like much of the Top End, has a tropical climate, with a wet and dry season. A period known locally as "the build up" leading up to Darwin's wet season sees temperature and humidity increase. Darwin's wet season typically arrives in late November to early December and brings with it heavy monsoonal downpours, spectacular lightning displays, and increased cyclone activity.[9] During the dry season, the city has clear skies and mild sea breezes from the harbour.
The Larrakia people are the traditional owners of the Darwin area and Aboriginal people are a significant proportion of the population. On 9 September 1839, HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin Harbour during its survey of the area. John Clements Wickham named the region "Port Darwin" in honour of their former shipmate Charles Darwin, who had sailed with them on the ship's previous voyage. The settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869, but was renamed Darwin in 1911.[10] The city has been almost entirely rebuilt four times, following devastation caused by a cyclone in 1897, another one in 1937, Japanese air raids during World War II, and Cyclone Tracy in 1974.[11][12]
Darwin's major newspapers are the Northern Territory News (Monday–Saturday), The Sunday Territorian (Sunday), and the national daily, The Australian (Monday–Friday) and The Weekend Australian (Saturday), all published by News Corp. Free weekly community newspapers include Sun Newspapers (delivered in Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield), and published by the NT News.[152] Another newspaper, the Centralian Advocate (1947–present), is printed in Darwin and trucked to Alice Springs.
Former publications in (or connected to) Darwin include:
Five free-to-air channels service Darwin. Commercial television channels are provided by Seven Darwin (Seven Network affiliate), Nine Darwin (formerly branded as Channel 8) and Ten Darwin (Network Ten relay), which launched on 28 April 2008. The two government-owned national broadcast services in Darwin are the ABC and SBS. Subscription television services Foxtel via Cable and Fetch TV via IPTV are available in the Darwin/Palmerston/Litchfield areas.
Darwin has radio stations on AM and FM frequencies, as well as on DAB+ (digital radio). ABC stations include ABC Local Radio (105.7 FM), ABC Radio National (657 AM), ABC News Radio (102.5 FM), ABC Classic (107.3 FM) and Triple J (103.3 FM). SBS Radio (100.9 FM) also broadcasts its national radio network to Darwin. There are three commercial radio stations, Hot 100, Mix 104.9 and Top Country 92.3. Other stations in Darwin include university-based station Territory FM 104.1, dance music station KIK FM 91.5, Palmerston FM 88.0 and Niche Radio 87.6 Non-English stations include Arabic-language channel 2ME 1638 AM, Chinese-language channel 3CW 1701 AM, Greek-language channel 2MM 1656AM, Italian-language channel Rete Italia 1476 AM and Spanish-language channel Radio Austral 90.7 FM. Indigenous community-based stations Radio Larrakia 94.5 FM and Radio Yolngu 1530 AM. The two sports stations TAB Radio 1242 AM and SEN 1611 AM. As well as Christian stations Faith 88.4 FM, Rhema 97.7 FM and Vision Radio 1323 AM.