Page 273 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Australia

the nor thern territ or y  271

DARWIN AND THE

TOP END

the tropical tip of the northern territory is a lush, ancient territory is a lush, ancient t
landscape. For thousands of years it has been home to large
numbers of Aboriginals and contains one of the oldest
collections of rock art in the world. its capital, Darwin, is small and
colourful. the World heritage-listed Kakadu national Park has a raw beauty
combined with the fascinating creation stories of its Aboriginal tribes.

The Port of Darwin was first named in attacks by the Japanese in World War II
1839, when British captain John Lort (see p274) and devastation by the force
Stokes, commander of HMS Beagle, sailed of Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve in 1974
into an azure harbour of sandy beaches (see p276). Despite having been twice
and mangroves, and named it after his rebuilt, it has grown into a multicultural
friend Charles Darwin. Although the modern city, with a relaxed atmosphere,
biologist would not publish his theory great beauty and a distinctly Asian feel.
of evolution in the Origin of the Species Beyond Darwin is a region of Aboriginal
for another 20 years, it proved to be a communities and ancient art sites, wide
wonderfully apt name for this tropical rivers and crocodiles, lotus-lily wetlands and
region, teeming with unique and ancient deep gorges. For visitors, Kakadu National
species of birds, plants, reptiles and Park superbly blends sights of great scenic
mammals. The Aboriginal tribes that beauty with a cultural and spiritual insight
have lived for many thousands of years into the complex Aboriginal culture. Also
in the northern area known as the Top to be enjoyed are the plunging waterfalls
End are recognized by anthropologists and giant termite mounds of Litchfield
as one of the world’s oldest races. National Park, the deep red-rock gorge
Darwin itself is a city that has fought of Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National
hard to survive. From 1869, when the Park, and expeditions into the closed
first settlement was established at Port Aboriginal communities of Arnhem
Darwin, it has endured isolation, bombing Land and Melville and Bathurst Islands.

An Aboriginal child gathering water lilies in the lush and tropical Top End
Jim Jim Falls, in Kakadu National Park, at the end of the wet season