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Darwin is the capital of the Australian Northern Territory, and it is also the largest city in the territory. Darwin’s close distance to Southeast Asia makes the city an easy gateway to all of Australia.
Darwin is located in the tropics, making the climate warm and with seasonal fluctuations between dry and humid weather. The location naturally provides Darwin with all the prerequisites for tourism and access to a lush nature.
In Darwin there are a number of exciting activities and sights. Nature is part of many of the experiences, but here are also interesting museums, colonial-style buildings, markets and more from the modern Australian society.
Darwin is the northern starting point for Stuart Highway and The Ghan Railroad to the south through Alice Springs to Adelaide. They are both unique experiences, and not far from Darwin there are national parks, etc. Everything for a memorable trip to tropical north Australia.
Lyons Cottage is a fine example of early Darwin architecture and is the only remaining original colonial style bungalow left in the city. The house was built as accommodation for employees of the British Australia Telegraph, and it is also known by the name BAT House.
The British Australia Telegraph was an important institution, maintaining the submarine cables connecting England and Australia. It was Harold Edward George Snell who built Lyons Cottage in 1925 using locally quarried stone. The building style was very similar to the architecture that was also used for British colonial housing in e.g. Malaysia and Singapore.
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Built in 1870-1871 as Darwin’s government building, Government House is one of the buildings that has survived all the cyclones that have hit the city throughout the 20th century. The house is the seat and residence of the so-called administrator of the Northern Territory. It is a person who is appointed by the Governor-General of Australia as the Government’s representative in the Northern Territory.
Government House is the oldest surviving house of European history in the Northern Territory. The house is an example of a Victorian Gothic villa, here adapted to the local climate by the addition of numerous shaded verandas. The building sits on 13,000 square meters of sloping countryside in the center of Darwin’s business district on The Esplanade.
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Darwin Waterfront Precinct is the name of Darwin’s modern harbor area, where there is a lovely atmosphere. There is also a wealth of activities that one can undertake. The area includes several places such as Stokes Hill Wharf, Darwin Waterfront Lagoon, Darwin Convention Centre, eateries, a hotel and several bathing spots.
You can, for example, take a walk along Stokes Hill Road to the local pier, from where there is a nice view and the opportunity to fish. Behind an inner pier is a closed water area with a small beach and a wave pool. The area is closed from the sea, so you can swim safely without visits from, for example, crocodiles. At Darwin City Beach there are also lawns and playgrounds.
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Darwin Botanic Garden is Darwin’s botanical garden, which with its location in the tropics is an orgy of flowers and plants. Originally, the site was a swampy eucalyptus grove, but since its foundation in 1886, it has been planted in a variety of ways.
In the beginning, the garden was established to, among other things, test the ability of different plants to grow in Darwin’s climate. Ornamental horticulture was also established, but unfortunately nearly 90% of the garden was destroyed during Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Since then, the garden has fortunately been beautifully replanted.
The botanic garden offers a large collection of northern Australian monsoon flora, which for example includes mangroves and forest plants from the Tiwi Islands. The garden also has a large collection of native and introduced tropical plants such as cycads, palms, adansonia and ginger.
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Fannie Bay Gaol is one of the most significant heritage buildings preserved in the Northern Territory. It was a prison which was in use from 1883 until 1979 when the prisoners were transferred to a more modern prison in Berrimah.
Today, Fannie Bay Gaol is set up as a museum. At the museum you can of course see the prison buildings and the prison’s interior and history. For many years there were separate sections for men and women, and at the women’s prison there was also a garden for the prisoners to work on.
The Old Court House is Darwin’s former courthouse and police station. It was erected in 1884 as the first of its kind in the Northern Territory. Over time, the fine building has housed different administrations; for example, the Australian navy was based here in 1942.
It was architect John G. Knight who designed the building, and the style was adapted to Darwin’s tropical climate with the wide shade-giving verandas. Today, the Old Court House stands as one of the city’s beautiful old buildings.
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Parliament House is the seat of the Northern Territory’s parliament. It was completed in 1994 and is located in the collection of public authority buildings around Liberty Square and State Square. The Parliament Building is one of the great modern structures in Darwin.
The house was designed by architect Tim Rogers and officially opened by the Australian Governor-General. Prior to the opening, Parliament’s assemblies and meetings had taken place in various buildings in Darwin since Parliament’s founding in 1948.
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Chinese Chung Wah Temple is Darwin’s original Chinese temple. Built for the increasing number of Chinese who came to Darwin throughout the 19th century, it stands on Esplanade Street next to the Old Court House.
The original temple was opened in 1887, but the current temple buildings date from 1977. This is because the previous constructions in the temple were destroyed by Cyclone Tracy in 1974. The temple is fine and traditionally built, and in the temple you can visit the Chinese Museum.
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Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory is a museum that can almost be considered a national museum for the Northern Territory. The museum building was opened in 1981 by the Australian Governor-General. It happened two years after the Northern Territory had been granted self-government.
At the museum you can get a good insight into the history and art of Darwin and the Northern Territory. The museum is the Northern Territory’s leading museum, and its fine collections depict the natural, cultural and artistic history of the region. Among the more curious effects is the crocodile Sweetheart, who was known to attack boats in the 1970s.
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Darwin Military Museum is a military museum on East Point in Darwin, where you can experience the city’s war history. One of the most significant events was the Japanese bombings during World War II and the same war’s deployment of approximately 110,000 soldiers in and around Darwin.
The museum was established in 1965 by the Royal Australian Artillery Association. It happened in the East Point area, where there were preserved parts of the site’s fortifications. Since then, the museum’s collections have grown to give a good and broad impression of military history in the North Australian area.
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For many visitors, Darwin Railway Station is their first encounter with Darwin. Many take the train The Ghan, which made its first trip from Adelaide in 1929. Until 2004, the railway only went to Alice Springs, but since then The Ghan has crossed the Australian continent the 2,979 km between Adelaide in the south and Darwin in the north.
However, The Ghan was not the first railway in Darwin. The North Autralia Railway had run 509 kilometers between Darwin and Birdum from successive openings 1889-1929 and included the line’s decommissioning in 1976. 28 years later, the first freight train from Adelaide rolled into Darwin Railway Station in January 2024. The following month, The Ghan arrived.
Work on building The Ghan began in 1878 in the city of Port Augusta in South Australia. The original line was narrow gauge and followed the Overland Telegraph Line. The connection and operation was increasingly irregular over the years and in 1980 a standard gauge railway could be opened between Tarcoola on the Trans-Australian Railway and Alice Springs.
The name The Ghan comes from the Afghan camel drivers who, before the opening of the railway, maintained the connection across the continent. Today, The Ghan is a fantastic experience where you can experience the variety of the Australian nature, and where you can take trips to highlights along the route during your journey.
Litchfield National Park is an approximately 1500 km2 national park located in the area southwest of the city of Darwin. The park was established in 1986 and is named after Frederick Henry Litchfield, who was one of the pioneers in the exploration of the Northern Territory.
On a trip to Litchfield National Park you can experience a rich flora and fauna. The park’s animal species include kangaroo, wallaby, possum and dingo, and Litchfield is home to hundreds of bird species, such as black warblers and other birds of prey.
The national park is easily accessible from, for example, Darwin, and on a trip you can take a look at some of nature’s highlights. This concerns, for example, the beautiful waterfalls that make up Florence Falls, and other beautiful waterfalls such as Tolmer Falls and Wangi Falls. You can also see the idyllic lakes Buley Rockholes.
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Kakadu National Park is one of the absolute highlights of the Northern Territory’s vast and impressive nature. The park is a unique natural area located to the east and south-east of the city of Darwin, which offers magnificent rock formations and a lush flora and fauna in the park’s 19,804 km2, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Aboriginal people have lived in the area for millennia, and today they have ownership over large parts of Kakadu National Park. One of the most breathtaking experiences in the national park is the Aboriginal cave paintings under the rock outcrops at Ubirr Rock and Nourlangie Rock. Here you can see works that cave researchers believe are approximately 60,000 years old.
Nature is overwhelming in the large park. The many wetlands, river systems and waterholes are home to an enormous birdlife, some of which you can enjoy on a trip here. The black jabiru storks stroll proudly among the ducks and geese, which seem completely unfazed by the lurking crocodiles, which are also part of Kakadu’s fauna.
There are experiences day and night, because most of Australia’s animals are nocturnal, and you can hear that in Kakadu National Park. At dusk, the underground tingles and the night has eyes. Wallabies, kangaroos and the little bandicoots make the night sound until the sunrise is accompanied by chirping birds in a beautiful union.
There are several ways to visit Kakadu National Park. One of the popular tours is on an organized tour from Darwin, where you get to some of the national park’s highlights. They usually count one of the locations Ubirr Rock or Nourlangie Rock. Often you can also spot crocodiles at Cahills Crossing or on a river cruise, and there are also tours with Aboriginal culture such as a stop at the Warradjan Cultural Centre.
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Nitmiluk National Park is an almost 3,000 square kilometer national park located northeast of the town of Katherine in the Northern Territory. Part of the park is located around the course of the Katherine River, and probably the best-known place in the park is Katherine Gorge, which is located quite close to the entrance to the park from Katherine itself.
Also known as Nitmiluk Gorge, Katherine Gorge is a deep gorge that has been carved out of the sandstone area by the force of the Katherine River. Nitmiluk Gorge consists of thirteen gorges with different falls. During the dry season, which lasts approximately from April to October, the water through the gorge is calm in most places and ideal for, for example, canoeing.
Freshwater crocodiles can be found in most parts of the river as they breed along the banks. Saltwater crocodiles regularly enter the river during the wet season, when the water level is very high and where the water is much more turbulent than in the dry season. That is why there are restrictions on, among other things, swimming this season.
You can start a trip to Nitmiluk Gorge with a visit to the park’s visitor center, which is reached along the road from Katherine. At the visitor center you can learn more about the geology and nature of the national park, and you can also learn about the history of the Aboriginal people in the area. You can also take boat trips through part of the gorge.
247 Trower Road, Casuarina
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Mitchell Street
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Smith Street Mall
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Smith Street Mall, Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, Mitchell Street
Wave Lagoon, Waterfront Precinct
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Crocosaurus Cove
58 Mitchell Street
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Crocodylus Park
815 McMillans Road, Barrimah
crocodyluspark.com.au
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Australian Pearling Exhibition
Stokes Hill Road
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Indo Pacific Marine
29 Stokes Hill Road, Wharf Precinct
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Deckchair Cinema
Jervois Road
deckchaircinema.com
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Aquascene
28 Doctors Gully Road
aquascene.com.au
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Darwin Botanic Gardens
200 Gardens Road
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Territory Wildlife Park
Cox Peninsular Road, Berry Springs
territorywildlifepark.com.au
tourismtopend.com.au/darwin-region
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journeybeyondrail.com.au/the-ghan
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European time on the Australian north coast started with the Dutch sailing here in the 1600s. They drew the first European maps and named some areas, for example Arnhem Land east of Darwin.
In 1839, the English ship HMS Beagle sailed to positions at present Darwin, and led by John Wickham they went ashore and named the port after scientist Charles Darwin, who had sailed on HMS Beagle on a previous expedition.
However, it was not until 1869 that an actual settlement became a reality. 135 people settled here and they called the place Palmerston. Already the following year, telegraph poles began to be erected, which would go from Post Augusta on the south coast via Darwin to the rest of the world, making the city strategically important.
In the 1880s, during the construction of the telegraph lines, gold was found at Pine Creek, which caused the population to rise. After some decades of progress, the town was officially called Darwin, Palmerston is today one of the city’s suburbs, built in the 1980s.
On February 19, 1942, Japanese aircraft attacked Darwin. Several hundred people were killed and many buildings destroyed. The attack was the first of a long series in 1942-1943.
The next major disaster hit Darwin on December 25, 1974, when cyclone Tracy ravaged the city, killing 71 people and crushing 70% of the buildings.
Despite the destruction by Tracy and other cyclones over time, Darwin has been rebuilt over and over, and now with greater certainty built with protection against natural disasters. Darwin, with its 110,000 inhabitants, is the largest city on the Australian north coast.
Overview of Darwin
Darwin is the capital of the Australian Northern Territory, and it is also the largest city in the territory. The close distance to Southeast Asia makes the city an easy gateway to all of Australia.
The city is located in the tropics, making the climate warm and with seasonal fluctuations between dry and humid weather. The location naturally provides the city and area with all the prerequisites for tourism and access to a lush nature.
About the upcoming Darwin travel guide
About the travel guide
The Darwin travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the Australian city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
Darwin is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.
Read more about Darwin and Australia
Buy the travel guide
Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.
Use the travel guide
When you buy the travel guide to Darwin you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.
Lyons Cottage • Darwin Wharf • The Ghan • Tropical North
Overview of Darwin
Darwin is the capital of the Australian Northern Territory, and it is also the largest city in the territory. The close distance to Southeast Asia makes the city an easy gateway to all of Australia.
The city is located in the tropics, making the climate warm and with seasonal fluctuations between dry and humid weather. The location naturally provides the city and area with all the prerequisites for tourism and access to a lush nature.
About the upcoming Darwin travel guide
About the travel guide
The Darwin travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the Australian city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
Darwin is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.
Read more about Darwin and Australia
Buy the travel guide
Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.
Use the travel guide
When you buy the travel guide to Darwin you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.
The Old Court House is Darwin’s former courthouse and police station. It was erected in 1884 as the first of its kind in the Northern Territory. Over time, the fine building has housed different administrations; for example, the Australian navy was based here in 1942.
It was architect John G. Knight who designed the building, and the style was adapted to Darwin’s tropical climate with the wide shade-giving verandas. Today, the Old Court House stands as one of the city’s beautiful old buildings.
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Parliament House is the seat of the Northern Territory’s parliament. It was completed in 1994 and is located in the collection of public authority buildings around Liberty Square and State Square. The Parliament Building is one of the great modern structures in Darwin.
The house was designed by architect Tim Rogers and officially opened by the Australian Governor-General. Prior to the opening, Parliament’s assemblies and meetings had taken place in various buildings in Darwin since Parliament’s founding in 1948.
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Chinese Chung Wah Temple is Darwin’s original Chinese temple. Built for the increasing number of Chinese who came to Darwin throughout the 19th century, it stands on Esplanade Street next to the Old Court House.
The original temple was opened in 1887, but the current temple buildings date from 1977. This is because the previous constructions in the temple were destroyed by Cyclone Tracy in 1974. The temple is fine and traditionally built, and in the temple you can visit the Chinese Museum.
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Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory is a museum that can almost be considered a national museum for the Northern Territory. The museum building was opened in 1981 by the Australian Governor-General. It happened two years after the Northern Territory had been granted self-government.
At the museum you can get a good insight into the history and art of Darwin and the Northern Territory. The museum is the Northern Territory’s leading museum, and its fine collections depict the natural, cultural and artistic history of the region. Among the more curious effects is the crocodile Sweetheart, who was known to attack boats in the 1970s.
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Darwin Military Museum is a military museum on East Point in Darwin, where you can experience the city’s war history. One of the most significant events was the Japanese bombings during World War II and the same war’s deployment of approximately 110,000 soldiers in and around Darwin.
The museum was established in 1965 by the Royal Australian Artillery Association. It happened in the East Point area, where there were preserved parts of the site’s fortifications. Since then, the museum’s collections have grown to give a good and broad impression of military history in the North Australian area.
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For many visitors, Darwin Railway Station is their first encounter with Darwin. Many take the train The Ghan, which made its first trip from Adelaide in 1929. Until 2004, the railway only went to Alice Springs, but since then The Ghan has crossed the Australian continent the 2,979 km between Adelaide in the south and Darwin in the north.
However, The Ghan was not the first railway in Darwin. The North Autralia Railway had run 509 kilometers between Darwin and Birdum from successive openings 1889-1929 and included the line’s decommissioning in 1976. 28 years later, the first freight train from Adelaide rolled into Darwin Railway Station in January 2024. The following month, The Ghan arrived.
Work on building The Ghan began in 1878 in the city of Port Augusta in South Australia. The original line was narrow gauge and followed the Overland Telegraph Line. The connection and operation was increasingly irregular over the years and in 1980 a standard gauge railway could be opened between Tarcoola on the Trans-Australian Railway and Alice Springs.
The name The Ghan comes from the Afghan camel drivers who, before the opening of the railway, maintained the connection across the continent. Today, The Ghan is a fantastic experience where you can experience the variety of the Australian nature, and where you can take trips to highlights along the route during your journey.
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