Darwin city centre

Infobox Australian Place
name = Darwin

---

caption = Looking towards the CBD from East Point
state = nt
type = suburb
lga = City of Darwin
city = Darwin
est = 1869
postcode = 0800
pop = 2,484 (2006) Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC71046 | name = Darwin City (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2008-06-15 | quick = on]
fedgov = Division of Solomon
stategov = Port Darwin
propval = $1,875,000 [ [http://www.domain.com.au/public/SuburbProfile.aspx?searchTerm=Darwin&mode=buy#mapanchor Domain.com.au Suburb Report - Darwin] (Nov 06) Accessed 15 June 2008]
near-nw = The Gardens
near-n = Stuart Park
near-ne =
near-w = Larrakeyah
near-e = "Francis Bay"
near-sw =
near-s = "Darwin Harbour"
near-se =

The Darwin city centre (referred to as "Darwin City" or "The CBD" (Central Business District) is a locality surrounded by metropolitan Darwin which comprises the original settlement, the central business district, parkland and other built-up areas. It is the oldest part of Darwin and includes many of the city's important institutions and landmarks, such as Parliament, Government House, the Northern Territory Supreme Court, Bicentennial Park and the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. The city centre is located in the local government areas of the City of Darwin.

Although the city centre is one of the most developed areas of Darwin, demographically it is one of the less densely populated, due to its core being commercial.

History

The first British person to see Darwin harbour appears to have been Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of HMS "Beagle" on 9 September 1839. The ship's captain, Commander John Clements Wickham, named the port after Charles Darwin, the British naturalist who had sailed with them both on the earlier second expedition of the "Beagle".

In the early 1870s, Darwin felt the effects of a gold rush at Pine Creek after employees of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line found gold while digging holes for telegraph poles.

On 5 February 1869, George Goyder, the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin. Goyder named the settlement Palmerston, after the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston. In 1870, the first poles for the Overland Telegraph were erected in Darwin, connecting Australia to the rest of the world. The discovery of gold at Pine Creek in the 1880s further boosted the young colony's development. Upon Commonwealth administration in 1911, Darwin became the city's official name.

Geography

The city centre is bordered by Daly Street to the north and extends east to the Stuart Highway McMinn Street to the east which borders Stuart Park. The border extends and east along Darwin Harbour it extends South the the Darwin Waterfront and to the Darwin Convention Centre. It extends West along the Esplande and Bicentennial Park. [ [http://www.nt.gov.au/lands/lis/placenames/origins/darwincity.shtml City of Darwin streets and roads] ]

Demographics

Darwin has one of the fastest growing residential populations in Australia. The CBD recorded a 5.1 per cent increase in population in 2007. [ [http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3218.0Main%20Features42006-07?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3218.0&issue=2006-07&num=&view=#NORTHERN%20TERRITORY ABS Regional Population Growth] ]

References