The history of Darwin details the city's growth from a fledgling settlement into a thriving colonial capital and finally a modern city.
Early history
The Aboriginal people of the Larrakia language group lived in the greater Darwin Region before European settlement. They had trading routes with Southeast Asia (see Macassan contact with Australia), and imported goods from as far as South Australia and Western Australia. Established songlines penetrated throughout the country, allowing stories and histories to be told and retold along the routes.
The Dutch visited Australia's northern coastline in the 17th century, and created the first European maps of the area, hence the Dutch names in the area, such as Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt, which still bears the original old Dutch spelling for "large island".
1800s
Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of HMS Beagle was the first British person to spot Darwin harbour on 9 September 1839, 51 years after the first European settlement of Australia. The ship's captain, Commander John Clements Wickham, named the port after Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who had sailed with them both on the earlier second expedition of the Beagle. It was not until 1869 that a permanent European settlement was established by the South Australian Government who had control of the Territory at that time.
On 5 February 1869, George Goyder, the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 men and women at Port Darwin. Goyder named the settlement Palmerston, after the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston. The Port of Darwin was first used for modern commerce in 1869. It was used to supply the new settlement of Palmerston.
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was built in the 1870s between Port Augusta and Darwin, connecting Australia to the rest of the world. During the construction, workers uncovered some gold near Pine Creek, about south of Darwin, which further boosted the young colony's development. In 1872, Government House (also known as the House of Seven Gables) was built, then in the 1880s it was pulled down and rebuilt.
In February 1875, the SS Gothenburg left Darwin for Adelaide with approximately 100 passengers and 34 crew (surviving records vary). Many passengers and crew were Darwin residents. On 24 February, in heavy storms she hit a reef at low tide off the north Queensland coast and sank with the loss of about 102 lives. The tragedy severely affected Darwin's population and economy and it was slow to recover. Another ship, the SS Ellengowan, sank in Darwin harbour on 27 April 1888.
The Fannie Bay Gaol was built between 1882 and 1883.
In the 1870s, Chinese began to settle at least temporarily in the Northern Territory, many of whom worked the goldfields and on the Palmerston to Pine Creek railway. By 1888 there were 6122 Chinese in the Northern Territory, mostly in or around Darwin. The early Chinese settlers were mainly from the Kwantung/Guangdong Province in southern China. However at the end of the nineteenth century anti Chinese feelings grew in response to the 1890s economic depression and the White Australia policy meant many Chinese left the Territory. However, some families stayed, became Australian citizens, and established a commercial base in Darwin.
In 1884, the pearling industry brought people from Japan, Timor and the Philippines, many of whose descendants are prominent families in Darwin today.
In 1897, the settlement was completely destroyed by a cyclone which killed 28 people.
1900s
In 1911, the city's name changed from Palmerston to Darwin. The Northern Territory was initially settled and administered by South Australia, until its transfer to the Commonwealth in 1911.
Darwin Rebellion
On 17 December 1918, the Darwin Rebellion occurred. During the rebellion, members of the Australian Workers' Union, led by Harold Nelson, burnt an effigy of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John Gilruth at Government House, and demanded his resignation.
Bombing of Darwin
On 19 February 1942, at 9:57 am, during World War II, 188 Japanese warplanes attacked Darwin in two waves. The incoming Japanese planes were first spotted by Father John McGrath at the Bathurst Island Mission north of Darwin. McGrath radioed at 9:30 am and the sirens wailed at 9:57 am. It was the same fleet that had bombed Pearl Harbor, and although it was a less significant target, a greater number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than were used in the attack on Pearl Harbor.