Darwin Rebellion - Aftermath

Aftermath

Wartime censorship prevented news of the storming of Government House in Darwin reaching the national press until the following Thursday afternoon. The news was received with great interest. The national press reacted in a predictable way, blaming a Soviet establishment in Darwin, to total anarchy, to an uncaring Federal government and Gilruth himself. The rebellion was described as the nearest thing to a revolution since the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat in 1854.

In November 1919, the Hon. Norman Kirkwood Ewing of the Tasmanian Supreme Court was appointed to Chair a Royal Commission on Northern Territory Administration. The outcome of the Royal Commission was the Northern Territory Representation Act 1922 (Cwlth) which provided for one Northern Territory member of the House of Representatives; the member had no voting rights, could not be chosen to be the Speaker or Chairman of Committees, and was not counted for quorum or majority determination purposes in the House.

Gilruth never returned to the Northern Territory. In the 1920s, he advanced his career with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Melbourne. In 1933 he was elected to the presidency and in 1936 to honorary membership of the Australian Veterinary Association. Gilruth retired in 1935 and on 4 March 1937, he died of a respiratory infection at his home at South Yarra, Melbourne, and was cremated.

Imprisoned at Fannie Bay Gaol for his "no taxation without representation" campaign, Harold Nelson won the first Territory seat in the House of Representatives in 1922 and held the seat until 1934. Nelson spent his time in parliament campaigning for greater expenditure and self-government for the Northern Territory, with little success. Following his defeat at the 1934 election, Nelson moved to Alice Springs to work as an agent. He died from unexpected cardiac failure in Alice Springs in 1947. He was survived by his wife and five children. One of these children, Jock Nelson, also served as member for the Northern Territory and in 1973 became the first Territory raised Administrator of the Northern Territory.