Darwin

Climate

The Top End, which includes Darwin, Katherine, Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land, has a tropical climate. Darwin has an average temperature of 32°C 90°F all year, with varying humidity.

Darwin is climatically perfect to visit from May to October. There is no need to check the weather forecast as it is nearly always 31°C 89°F and sunny during the day, with cooler nights. November and December the build up, or pre-monsoon season, begins and humidity levels start their rise. The summer rains bring the natural landscape to life and deliver the picturesque storms and sunsets the Northern Territory is renowned for. Some people enjoy this aspect of the wet, with the rivers and waterfalls in full glory, and the landscape greener.

Understand

Darwin has a relaxed lifestyle and unique multiculturalism, where people from over 50 different cultures live and work side by side. The regular Asian-style markets that form an intrinsic part of the everyday Darwin landscape for local residents see food, music, language, and culture from just about every Asian nation, alongside "crocodile hunters", local Aboriginal artists, musicians of every genre, sports fishing operators, sunset sails, and families with children playing on the beach. Darwin's unique cosmopolitan makeup has been recognised as an "multicultural icon of national significance" by the Australian National Trust.

Darwin's tropical climate has two major seasons, the 'dry', from about May to October, and the 'wet', from November to April. Major cyclones have occurred approximately once every three decades. Much of the city was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy in 1974.

Darwin is also the only Australian capital city to have come under substantial attack during a war. On 19 February, 1942, Japanese planes made two major air raids on Darwin from the aircraft carrier fleet that had attacked Pearl Harbor less than 3 months earlier. These were the first of 64 air attacks experienced by the city during World War II, the last being on 12 November, 1943. Other areas in northern Queensland and northern Western Australia were also bombed by Japanese aircraft.

History

Darwin was first named in 1839 by John Lort Stokes during the third voyage of the Beagle. It was named after his former shipmate and famous naturalist Charles Darwin. Darwin's development was accelerated by the discovery of gold at Pine Creek, about 200 km south of the city in 1871. After the gold rush Darwin's growth slowed mainly due to the harsh, tropical climate, distance and poor communications with other Australian cities. The Second World War put Darwin back on the map when the town became an important base for Allied action against the Japanese in the Pacific. The road south to the railhead at Alice Springs was surfaced, putting the city in direct contact with the rest of the country. Modern Darwin is one of Australia's most cosmopolitan cities, more open to Asia than perhaps any other Australian city. It plays an important role as the door to Australia's northern region. Natural wonders such as Kakadu, Katherine Gorge, and Litchfield are all within driving distance from the city and still contain near pre-colonial populations of crocodiles, goannas, snakes and wallabies.

Today Darwin is a fast growing regional centre that has unique history, culture and adventure.