In 1839, John Stokes of the Beagle landed on Talc Head. He named the area before him, Port Darwin, reflecting his friendship with Charles Darwin, who had travelled with him on a previous voyage of discovery on the same ship.

A Lieutenant of the ship, James Emery came upon fresh water near the harbour and hence his name was used for the point there. Indeed, it was perhaps this discovery of water which made Goyder in later years favour the area as a potential site for capital of the Territory.

John McDouall Stuart was the greatest explorer of the Northern Territory. The British government had made three unsuccessful attempts to establish a permanent presence on Australia's northern coastline between 1824 and 1849, but it was Stuart's expedition that opened the way for true settlement of the area which had been viewed as providing both strategic and economic value.

Journeying from the south to the north, Stuart reached Chambers Bay in July 1862. The Northern Territory was annexed to South Australia and the Government passed a land act permitting the sale of 202,000 acres of land in the belief that land sales would provide the finance for settlement.

Four expeditions were dispatched by the South Australian government between 1863 and 1868 to choose a capital for its newly acquired Northern Territory. The establishment of Darwin (or Palmerston as it was then called), was to prove to be the most elusive and problematic of Australia's capital cities.

There was little agreement on the purpose for annexation, nor for settlement. The divided motives for the development of the region, mercantile-agricultural and pastoral, plunged the decision of locating the site of the capital into conflict from the beginning.

On the 18th June, 1864 Boyle Travers Finnes, former Surveyor General of South Australia, arrived at Adam Bay in order to settle Escape Cliffs. The location was a bad choice; it afforded little opportunity for development, also potential land buyers were unimpressed with the choice of settlement, and continuing confrontation with the Aboriginals led to the abandonment of the settlement in 1867.

With continuing disagreement as to a suitable location for the Territory's capital, John McKinlay was commissioned to explore the region to determine the best place for settlement and a capital. McKinlay was specifically directed to examine the country east of the Adelaide River. On arriving at Adam Bay in November 1865 McKinlay condemned the Escape Cliffs site and the disorganisation of the settlement.

With doubts raised as to the advisability of persevering with the settlement of the Northern Territory, the government called tenders for the survey of 300,000 acres of land without specifying any location.

Eleven responses were received but the vast disparity in costs suggested further investigation. Surveyor General Goyder believed the best site was yet to be chosen, and recommended none be accepted. He further suggested someone be appointed to visit Victoria River, Anson Bay, Port Darwin and Escape Cliffs before choosing a site.

While British landowners began demanding reimbursement and an additional 10% as interest, Captain Francis Cadell was dispatched to the north. Raising scandal in the press, this mission initially recommending the Liverpool River, was declared a complete disaster, and all missions to the Northern Territory were postposed.

Following increased demand by the landowners for reimbursement, and the nearing of the government's five year expiratory date on settlement, it was decided to offer land owners twice the amount of land originally purchased in exchange for a 10 year selection date. More tenders were taken, all proving unsatisfactory until the decision was made to send a government party to make a survey.

Goyder's preferences for Port Darwin were well known, and Goyder and his party soon made base camp at Fort Point at Darwin Harbour. Within a month he reported Fort Point had been chosen as the principle site for settlement, and a town plan for Palmerston had already been prepared. Survey of Palmerston was completed within two weeks and work began on rural sites and those for other town settlement. No one questioned Goyder's authority to judge the land in terms of its pastoral and agricultural suitability, nor the speed with which the survey was completed.

On May 26 plans and drafts of the proposed township were despatched to Adelaide, together with photographs of the Palmerston site and a diagram of the 43,000 acres already surveyed. 600,000 acres were surveyed by the end of August, and following the preparation of final plans and diagrams Goyder left for Adelaide. Goyder had in fact largely superimposed Adelaide's grid model on the local topography with relatively few changes.

The final acceptance of Port Darwin as the capital had been determined by the need for a decision rather than any degree of suitability. After years of delay there was little interest in debating the advantages and disadvantages of the site Goyder had chosen.

In June 1870, Captain Bloomfield Douglas arrived as the new Resident of Palmerston. Work began on the town's first permanent building, the Residency on the hill facing Fort Hill where Goyder's party had planted their Union Jack. The stables that had been erected by Goyder had become the first Land Office, and it was here that town lots were selected in July. The majority of selections were acquired for speculative purposes, and of the 1019 allotments only 40 were actually occupied.

Within five years Palmerston had a population of 600 Europeans and 180 Chinese, and though the top end had been partly conquered the battle was hardly won. An extreme shortage of building materials meant that for the first twenty years of its existence Darwin had the appearance of a shanty town.

Only the handful of government buildings and the headquarters of the British Australia Telegraph Company testified to the European dream of settling the north.

Though it was thought that Palmerston would serve for trade purposes and offered military and strategic advantages, it provided little access to the hinterland and could not serve as an outlet for inland produce. By the 1860s most ships were taking the southern route for trade, and as a result Palmerston was rendered an administrative capital, geographically isolated from the pastoral and mining industries of its interior.

In 1911 the name of the city was officially changed from Palmerston to Darwin. This was a time of optimism for not only the city but for all of the Territory. Various new projects were undertaken, including the Vesteys Meat Works. However, it ran into difficulties and had to close in 1920. The optimistic mood had changed to one of bitterness with rising unemployment and economic difficulties.

On the 19th February, the population of Darwin were to experience something which many Europeans had by now become accustomed to, a bombing raid. 188 Japanese aircraft swooped down on the city causing havoc for thirty minutes and resulting in the deaths of 250 people with 400 injured. Darwin was not the only Territory venue for such bombing. The Top End experienced about 70 air raids in 1942/3. This threw the city into the limelight, with thousands of troops swarming the Territory. Parts of the Stuart Highway were actually used by the airforce as a runway, and remnants of this can still be seen in part as you drive along.

The famous Cyclone Tracy arrived in town during the early hours of Christmas Day morning, flattening 85% of the city's buildings with its scary gusts. The anemometer was damaged after recording a gust of 217 km/hour, although it is believed that the gusts got up to as much as 270 km/hour at one point in time. 49 people died and somewhere between $500 and $1000 million worth of damage was done, making it Australia's most costly natural disaster.

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