The Northern Territory represents about one sixth of the Australian continent but contains less than one percent of the nation's population. The land, having always drawn the curious and the intrepid from the bound of civilisation into her vast unknown interior, has remained untameable, and as a result development has been kept to a minimum.

The Territory flag incorporates the three colours of the territory - black, white and red ochre. The five stars on the black panel represent the Southern Cross constellation. In the ochre panel, the seven petals of the Territory's floral emblem, the Sturt Desert Rose enclose a seven pointed black star representing the six Australian States and the Northern Territory. In 1898 Banjo Paterson described the Territory as "a vast, wild land, full of huge possibilities. Some day it will be civilised and spoilt; but up to the present it has triumphantly overthrown all who have attempted to improve it". Despite several attempts the area remains largely unspoilt.

This Territory with its arbitrarily constructed border lines, has a rich Aboriginal past going back as far as possibly 40,000 years. A site near Oenpelli is believed to be the oldest known one in the Territory. It is very hard to try to put a figure on numbers living in the region prior to the arrival of the Europeans. One estimated guess is 35,000, all of whom are members of one of approximately 126 tribes.

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