Darwin

Abstract

Darwin exemplifies the tenacity of outback settlement in Australia in the face of economic and environmental adversity. In its brief 120-year history, it has been destroyed several times only to be rebuilt in a similar layout. The latest reconstruction, however, since it was destroyed by cyclone Tracy in 1974, has produced an entirely modern city retaining little of the character of its former pioneering times. Variously described as Australia's ‘Front Door’ or ‘Gateway to Asia’, this is the continent's northernmost city and is geographically as close to Singapore as it is to Sydney. Darwin is also an ethnic mixing pot of Aboriginal Australians, Chinese attracted during the goldrush days 100 years ago, more modern waves of Greeks, Italians and other European migrants and, very recently, Vietnamese ‘boat people’ or refugees from the north. Proximity to Asia, remoteness from the rest of Australia and a harsh tropical environment are all factors which have shaped Darwin's evolution.