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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Darwin is the territorial capital and most populous city of Australia's Northern Territory. It has a population of 109,478 (est. June 2004) and is located on Australia's far northern coastline. Darwin has a tropical climate, and is subjected to tropical thunderstorms and cyclones; the first recorded cyclone to hit Darwin was in 1867, and much of the city was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy in 1974. It is also the only Australian capital city to have come under substantial attack during any war: on February 19, 1942, Japanese planes made two major air raids on Darwin, the first of 63 air attacks experienced by the city during World War II. Darwin has the largest proportional population of indigenous Australians of any Australian capital city, and a significant percentage of its residents are recent immigrants from South and East Asia. As such, Darwin is often called the "multicultural capital of Australia" due to its additional mix of racial and cultural groups, including Timorese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Papuans, Greeks and Italians. Darwin is an important port, particularly for the live export of cattle, minerals and gas. It is also the site of a large Australian Army base and a naval facility supporting patrol boat activity off Australia's northern coastline.
The first European explorer to sight Darwin's harbour in 1839 appears to be John Lort Stokes of HMS Beagle. The ship's captain, John Clements Wickham, named the port after Charles Darwin, the British naturalist, who had sailed with him on an earlier expedition of Beagle. The Northern Territory was initially settled and administered by South Australia, until its transfer to the Commonwealth in 1911. On 5 February 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 Prime Minister Lord Palmerston. In 1870, the first poles for the Overland Telegraph were erected in Darwin connecting Australia to the rest of the world. The discovery of gold at Pine Creek in the 1880s further boosted the young colony's development. Upon Commonwealth administration in 1911, Darwin became the city's official name.

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