History of Darwin - 1800s

1800s

Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of HMS Beagle was the first British person to spot Darwin harbour on 9 September 1839, 69 years after the first European settlement of Australia. The ship's captain, Commander John Clements Wickham, named the port after Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who had sailed with them both on the earlier second expedition of the Beagle. It was not until 1869 that a permanent European settlement was established by the South Australian Government who had control of the Territory at that time.

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. The Port of Darwin was first used for modern commerce in 1869 when it was discovered. It was used to supply the new settlement of Palmerston.

The 3,200-kilometre (2,000 mi) Australian Overland Telegraph Line was built in the 1870s between Port Augusta and Darwin, connecting Australia to the rest of the world. During the construction, workers uncovered some gold near Pine Creek, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) south of Darwin, which further boosted the young colony's development. In 1872, Government House (also known as the House of Seven Gables) was built, then in the 1880s it was pulled down and rebuilt.

In February 1875, the SS Gothenburg left Darwin for Adelaide with approximately 100 passengers and 34 crew (surviving records vary). Many passengers and crew were Darwin residents. On 24 February, in heavy storms she hit a reef at low tide off the north Queensland coast and sank with the loss of about 102 lives. The tragedy severely affected Darwin’s population and economy and it was slow to recover. Another ship, the SS Ellengowan, sunk in Darwin harbour on 27 April 1888.

The Fannie Bay Gaol was built between 1882 and 1883.

In 1884, the pearling industry brought people from Japan, Timor and the Philippines, many of whose descendants are prominent families in Darwin today.

• The planting of the first telegraph pole on 15 September 1870.

• Wreck of the SS Gothenburg.