Darwin: destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed…the beat goes on…

Darwin is an interesting city. It is the northernmost city of any size in Australia and is not in a state, but is in a territory.

The Northern Territory has not achieved statehood because of several factors, chief among them is that there are only about 300,000 people in the entire territory (an area large enough to fit in two times the size of Texas with a little left over). About 200,000 of the inhabitants live in the greater Darwin area. In addition, most of the land is owned by the aboriginal peoples and they are not really keen on the idea of pledging to the Queen.

Darwin was just about destroyed by the Japanese in 1942. It was the only “mainland” Australian city to have been the victim of the Japanese air force and navy. They just about leveled the city and for a short time thereafter, the Australian government jousted internally as to whether or not to rebuild it. Local pride won out and the city was rebuilt.

The inhabitants of the Northern Territory (NT) are closer to those of the American pioneers than to the original British settlers. They consider themselves fiercely independent and since they are over 2500 KM (about 1600 miles ) from Canberra, the Australian Capital, they pretty much believe they can do what they want. It’s Queensland with a vengeance.

Christmas Eve 1974 was the next big event in Darwin’ recent history. Cyclone Tracy (our Florida friends will know a cyclone is a hurricane on steroids) made a direct hit on Darwin. The winds were in excess of 180 MPH. We know that to be a fact since the anemometers were ripped off the buildings at that speed and the storm increased in fury. Darwin was knocked flat again.

Darwin rebuilt – with a new cyclone building code – and most of what is currently in place was built after 1975. Frankly, while Darwin is a nice small city – really more a big town – we felt that since everything was 40 years old or less, the architecture, historical context, and ambiance of the area was quite “vanilla” by comparison to other Australian cities.

Darwin is also about as laid-back as any place you might ever visit. Perhaps it is because of its remoteness that even small achievements loom large with the locals.

We only had a day in Darwin and we opted for a Darwin panoramic tour – big mistake. Probably the worst tour we have ever taken. There is not a lot in Darwin to begin with, but we made do with a trip to the Botanical Gardens, followed by a short stop at a bayside lookout to view the city from afar.

The botanical gardens were idyllic, but we only had a few minutes and could not really wander to appreciate them. Coupled with the really hot and humid weather, we were just as pleased to get back on the air-conditioned bus.

This was the view from the East Point public park. We were told that this area played an important part in keeping the Japanese subs from entering the harbor, but our guide failed to show us what was there - again, we only had a short stop and could not wander too far.

One of the highlights of the tour was to be a stop at the Fannie Bay Goal (pronounced “jail”). Unfortunately, we were told that the Goal was closed for the rainy season. The tour company substituted a short stop at an old Qantas Air Hangar  (circa 1935). The hangar was sort of a big boys’ hangout for those really into welding, restoring, tinkering, puttering, drinking, “bs”ing, chewing, drinking, driving vintage cars, plows, and locomotives, and did I mention drinking….

Our final stop was the NT Art Gallery and Museum. We did see and enjoy an entire  exhibit room about Cyclone Tracy. We also got to see “Sweetheart” a large croc that had to be destroyed due to his fondness for small boats and their inhabitants.

"Sweetheart" is the stuffed remains of the roughly 16' croc that played havoc with the local fishermen until he was finally caught.

The most interesting room in the museum was the display of indigenous artworks. Until one has an opportunity to see these pieces and read about their meaning and about the artist, one cannot really appreciate a people with over 500 languages and an oral history going back over 10,000 years. Due to local regulations, I could not take any photos of the various pieces.

It was too hot and humid to wander through the rather compact downtown area so we just proceeded directly back to the ship and air conditioning. Travel may broaden one’s horizons, but there is no substitute for air conditioning…

We now have two sea days to recover from our Australian adventures (and non-adventures) before we get to Bali. In Bali we have several fun things planned, including a cooking school. Stay tuned…