Darwin, a small yet cosmopolitan city, is
the tropical capital city of the Northern
Territory.
People from more than 50 nations make up its
population of 110,000.
It is located on the Northern Territory coast,
with the Timor Sea to the west, and the Arafura
Sea to the north in Indonesian waters.
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 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 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.
Darwin's tropical climate has two major seasons:
the 'dry', from about May to October, and
the 'wet', from November to April.
There is also the 'build up', the time from
the end of the dry, leading into the wet when
the humidity rises, but the rain doesn't fall.
The arrival of the wet is always a welcome
break from the buildup.
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 sustained
by the city during World War II, the last
being on 12 November 1943.
