OzPedia- Northern Territory

[AUSTRALIA] - [ACT] - [NSW] - [NT] - [QLD] - [SA] - [TAS] - [VIC] - [WA]

[FACT PAGE] - [GEOGRAPHY] - [CLIMATE] - [HISTORY]

Fact Page
Capital City:
Darwin

Major Cities:
Alice Springs

Area:
1,346,200 sq km

Population:
169, 298

Did you know?
About one-third of Northern Territory is unsettled desert.

[top]

Geography
With most areas lying to the north of the Tropic of Capricorn, the Northern Territory stretches for 1610 km from north to south and 934 km from east to west.

The 1650 km flat northern coastline is scattered with numerous inlets, bays and river estuaries. The many islands off the coast include Grotte Eylandt and Vanderlin Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and Melville and Bathurst islands off the northwest coast.

Due south, the land rises to an interior tableland. The low inland is mostly semi-arid with vast tracts of claypan desert and sand dunes. The MacDonnell Ranges crossed central Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn.These ranges contain amazing geological formations such as the Simpson's Gap. The Olgas and Ayers Rock, southwest of Alice Springs, show sections of ancient mountain ranges. Australia has some of the oldest mountain ranges in the world - there aren't very tall as over centuries they had been eroded away by the climate. The barren Simpson desert lies to the south-western side.

[top]

Climate
Northern Territory has a tropical north and an arid centre. Temperatures are high during summer and moderate during winter.

In the north, the wet season lasts from October to April and the dry season is from May to September. During the wet season, the coast is vulnerable to tropical cyclones (hurricanes or typhoons).

Rainfall varies from an annual average of 1570 mm in the northern monsoonal fringe to less than 150 mm a year in the barren south. Approximately, one-third of the Territory receives more than 500 mm of rainfall a year.

[top]

History
The earliest people to occupy the area were the Aboriginal people. In 1623 the Dutch ship Arnhem was the first recorded European contact with the Northern Territory. Up until the 1800's many explorers had shown interest in establishing a settlement. It was not until 1825 that a British settlement was established at Ford Dundes on Melville Island. Another settlement was found by Captain James Stirling on the Cobourg Peninsula in 1827. In 1829 both settlements were abandoned because of hostile Aboriginal people and tropical disease. Another attempt at colonisation was made but after a mere 11 years, fever led to its abandonment.

Meanwhile another parts of Northern Territory's interior were being explored by people such as Ludwig Leichhardt and Charles Sturt. During the 1860's many attempts were made to use the land for grazing cattle but few survived the harsh conditions. Eventually in 1870 a permanent settlement around the regions of Port Darwin was made when gold was found in the Pine Creek area and many migrants rushed to Australia. By the 1900s nearly 2000 people inhabited the Northern Territory and a mining industry employing mostly Chinese was established.

The Northern Territory was administered by the federal government until June 1978 when it came under partial self-rule. The region is expected to become a full-fledged state in the Australian Federation.

The Commonwealth government took over the administration Northern Territory in 1911 and changed the capital's name of Palmerston to Darwin. Japanese attacks partially destroyed Darwin during World War II. Darwin was hit by another disaster on Christmas Day on 1975 when Cyclone Tracey ripped through the city leaving the people with the task of rebuilding an entire city.

Eventually the region of the Northern Territory is expected to become a full-fledged state in the Australian Federation.

[top]

[Email] [Help] [Home Page] [Other Links] [Team] [OzPedia] [OzTravel]