A Winter in Darwin

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We arrived in Darwin on Sun 28/Jun/09 after a 3½-hour, Jetstar direct lunchtime flight from Melbourne. The airport is only about 10km from the CBD, so we were soon shuttle bussed ($12 each) to the Mediterranean on Cavenagh St. With a population of about 120,000, Darwin feels like one of the larger Victorian country towns. The city precinct would only be (~ 1.5 x 2.0 =) 3km2 with the CBD perhaps (~ 1 x 1 =) 1 km2, so very walkable. Indeed, Marg and I walked most of this central grid of streets &/or harbour side beaches, repeatedly, being ~ 5 blocks by 7 blocks. This was probably the best time of year to visit, with no noticeable humidity, and temperatures stuck at 31oC by day & 16oC overnight.
As a result of the wartime air raids and of Cyclone Tracy, Darwin has few historic buildings although some of the stronger stone structures survived and have been restored. Since Cyclone Tracy all buildings are constructed to a strict cyclone code. A growing population and relatively scarce land has seen a boom in high rise apartment style housing in recent years especially around the central business district and coastal fringes. Darwin is quite an attractive city with lots of grassed areas and views to those beautiful blue waters of Darwin Harbour. Development is evident with several existing high rise hotels/apartments and quite a few more under construction.
We were surprised by the lack of Aboriginals in and around Darwin; for some reason, I was expecting their numbers to be far greater, maybe even matching the numbers of whites. In fact, numbers of any colour of people seemed pretty sparse most of the time, exceptions being when visiting the top end of Mitchell St, which is where most of those young backpacker types seem to hang out, & our visits to the Mindil Beach Night Market.
The local newspapers were quite amusing to read; so parochial and opinionated, with many a slang turn of phrase & not much concern for political correctness.
The Larrakia Aboriginal people lived (and still do) in the greater Darwin Region before European settlement. They had trading routes with SE Asia, SA & WA. The Dutch visited the northern coastline in the 1600s, and created the first European maps of the area, hence the Dutch names in the area, such as Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt. Lieutenant Stokes of HMS Beagle in 1839 (69 years after the first European settlement of Australia), named the port after Charles Darwin, of “Origin of the Species” fame. 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/Feb/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 PM. The Port of Darwin was first used for modern commerce in 1869 when it was discovered. It was used to supply the new settlement of Palmerston. During construction of the Overland Telegraph line between Port Augusta and Darwin connecting Australia to the rest of the world from 1870, workers uncovered some gold near Pine Creek, about 200km south of Darwin, further boosted the young colony's development.
By 1881 the town had a population of 3451. The increase in the population saw the construction of the Fannie Bay Gaol in 1882/83. In 1884, the pearling industry brought people from Japan, Timor and the Philippines, many of whose ancestors are prominent families in Darwin today. in 1911 the city of Palmerston became the city's official name of Darwin. The Northern Territory was initially settled and administered by South Australia, until its transfer to the Commonwealth in 1911.
The discovery of gold led to an influx of people to Darwin. This minor gold rush attracted more than 7000 Chinese and a handful of Europeans which was the beginning of the extraordinary cultural mix that is now Darwin.

Mindil Beach Sunset Market (MBSM)
We were anxious to get out and about a little before the day (Sun 28/Jun/09) was done, so with a map in hand, we headed NW to Mindil Beach. The MBSM operates twice a week, Sunday & Thursday, during the dry season, from late afternoon till 10ish, and is renowned for its magnificent sunsets. We were a little too late to catch the sunset, in all its glory, but could still appreciate the tropical setting. We were more than content to roam around the market stalls taking in the smells and visuals of the various foods; many of which were Asian. It was pretty crowded, but vibrant and bustling, buskers, stock-whip crackers, music bands, advertisers of Croc Cruises &/or Wildlife Parks, entertainment, jewellery, craft, clothing, art, etc. We had some nibblies & an East Timorese meal in the twilight.
We saw this spray paint artist complete an Uluru sunset landscape in maybe 10mins - he used a couple of stencils here & there, and sprayed some areas of his work repeatedly with several different colours, and then scraped across it with a knife & a gum tree appeared, wiped another section with some newspaper and a speckled desert foreground emerged!
Got back to the MBSM again on Thu 09/Jul/09 and this time caught the sunset, but along with hundreds of others - the beach was so much more crowded this week with photo taking holiday makers.

Mediterranean Hotel
Marg had managed to secure this accommodation after her disgusted dismissal of my booking. We stayed here both pre (Sun 28/Jun/09 to Thu 02/Jul/09) & post (Tue 07/Jul/09 to Sat 11/Jul/09) Kakadu, at $179/night. This place was an ‘all suite hotel’ with two spacious rooms including a full kitchen. (The backpacker type place I had originally booked would have been just the one cramped room and shared kitchen facilities and cost nearly as much!) I was very grateful to Marg for making this adjustment. Despite our friends, Chris & Chas, having stayed here previously & recommended it to us, Marg had found this independently. On Cavenagh St, it was a short stroll to the Woolies supermarket and various other shops.

Our first full day in Darwin Mon 29/Jun/09 saw us breakfasting at our nearest café, The Office, on quite a delightful repast - eggs Benedict, yoghurt fruit salad & some great coffee. We did the supermarket thing to stock our fridge and then went walkabout. We were sort of following the ‘Heritage Walk’ outlined in one of those visitor guides but got distracted, as one does, and pursued other interesting offerings.
The Waterfront development, which is well advanced in its construction, was a very impressive precinct to visit, particularly in the current weather conditions. With lots of grassed areas in between, it featured the Darwin Convention Centre, a busy wave pool, a breakwater & net protected lagoon, medium height apartment buildings and the Stokes Hill Wharf of shops & cafes. We loved the area, walked around, coffeed near the lagoon & on the wharf, swam in the lagoon & walked the breakwater.

Japanese Bombing of 1942
As Darwin Harbour was the target of a Japanese air attack, you come across a lot of information boards or commemorative type plaques in this area, acknowledging the events, the loss of life, the damage & the effect on Darwin. On 19/Feb/1942, during WWII, Japan attacked Darwin in two air raids. There were 188 warplanes in the first wave, at 9.58am, & another 54 in the second wave, some 2 hours later. (It was the same fleet that had bombed Pearl Harbour.) The attacks killed at least 243 people and caused immense damage to the town. These were by far the most serious attacks on Australia in time of war, in terms of fatalities and damage. They were another 62 air raids on Darwin before 12/Nov/1943. Darwin was unprepared, and although it came under attack from the air another 60 times in 1942 and 1943, these first raids were massive and devastating by comparison.

Australian Pearling Exhibition (APE)
The wharf area also contained this little gem. The APE (entry $6.60 each) was an interesting & informative set of displays, artefacts, videos, outlining the history of pearling in northern Australia, the biology of an oyster, the farming techniques employed and the types of pearls that are produced.
Commercial free diving for pearls began in northern Australia in the 1850s and went ‘hard hat’, so as to get to deeper beds, from about 1868, with limited success at first, but by the end of the 1880s just about all WA luggers were using this technology.
These days technicians seed the oysters by hand and they remain in special containers in the sea to grow the pearls. The major sponsor of this exhibition is Paspaley Pearls, the Paspaley’s being a big player of the pearling history in these parts, who are renowned for the quality of the pearls they produce.

World War II Oil Storage Tunnels
We visited these tunnels on Mon 29/Jun/09 at a cost of $5 each. There were two tunnels open for inspection with a variety of photographs of Darwin during WWII displayed at several places along the tunnel walls. They had an eerie feel, suggesting the seriousness or desperation that was involved at the time.
In 1924 eleven above ground oil storage tanks were built on Stokes Hill Wharf to support the Navy’s move from coal power to oil. The Japanese air raids in early 1942 had destroyed seven of these ‘sitting ducks’ & resulted in the decision of late 1942 to construct eight underground storage tunnels. Construction problems & costs saw just five steel lined tunnels being built; these extend from the wharf and extend under the city. The tunnels are horse shoe shape in cross section and were 5.4m wide, 4.5m high with lengths varying, depending on the tunnel: 116, 172, 77, 184 & 124m. They were never actually used for their intended purpose although a couple were used to store jet fuel in the 1950s.

Cyclone Tracy
On 25/Dec/1974 Darwin was struck by Cyclone Tracy killing 71 people and destroying over 70%!o(MISSING)f the town's buildings, including many old stone buildings such as the Palmerston Town Hall, the Old Police Station, the Court House and Cell Block all on The Esplanade which runs along Lameroo Beach which could not withstand the lateral forces generated by the strong winds.
It was, Australia's worst natural disaster. The anemometer at Darwin Airport recorded winds of 217 km/h at 3:00am before it stopped working; winds of up to 250 km/h were estimated to have hit the city. The total damage cost $1000 million. 16 people were lost at sea, their bodies never recovered. The city of 45,000 residents was completely destroyed.
A cyclone has two main parts, the eye & the wall clouds. The eye is characterised by light winds and clear skies and is typically 32km in diameter. The strongest winds and heaviest rain occur within the wall cloud. Once wind speed in the wall clouds averages over 63kph it is called a cyclone. Wind speeds can get up to over 300kph. These are the most destructive - a Category 5. Cyclone Tracy was a Category 4 with winds in excess of 225kph. The combination of the very strong winds, low atmospheric pressure and the shallowing of the sea near the coast, cause the sea levels to rise several metres above normal tide to produce a ‘storm surge’.
After the disaster, an airlift evacuated 30,000 people, which was the biggest airlift in Australia's history. The population was evacuated by air and ground transportation; due to communications difficulties with Darwin airport landing was limited to one plane every ninety minutes. By 31/Dec/1974 only 10,638 people (mostly men who were required to help clean up the city) remained in Darwin.
The City was subsequently rebuilt with newer materials and techniques during the late 1970s & a the satellite city of Palmerston was built 20 km south of Darwin in the early 1980s.

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Photos

Mindil Beach
Evening of our first day in Darwin.

Church
Just the front part of this church was standing after Tracy passed through.

The Old Town Hall
Once a Town Hall, Now an outdoor performance space - thanks to Cyclone Tracy.

Wave Pool
The Harbourside development features this wave pool & the Darwin Convention Centre in the background.

WWII Oil Tunnels
Inside one of the tunnels built to stow our Navy's oil away from the threat of air raids.

Wharf Precinct
The Wharf Precinct has shops, cafes & a nice ambience.

Mermaid
Marg provides considerable distraction to our morning walk.

Mornin' Marg
Marg's knocked up another sumptuous brekky.

Cullen Bay
An exclusive little area with a lock protected bay. Park your yatcht, have a bite to eat & a coffee.

Mindil Beach
Word had got out that we were in town & people flocked to the beach to catch a view.

Comments

[jane Ramsay]

darwin winter
Alas but no rain, no humidity and no severe wild storms...............why else would you live in Darwin.....dont be mislead by only visiting in the dry which is also a wonderful climate.