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Last Updated on May 18, 2023

Helpful Links to Darwin Facebook Groups and other Historical Sites of Interest


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You can use this search tool below to find any image quickly if you know its reference number.  

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I am uploading all of my high-resolution Darwin Historical Colourised images to my Google Drive in the cloud.

You can download them by clicking on the image.

These are zipped into single files of 50 images for each group, and each image within an individual sub-directory so that everyone can enjoy them in the future.

Listen to my Interview with James Finlay on ABC Radio Darwin

I did a live ABC Radio Darwin interview on the 8th of September 2022, however, it was very hard to select my interview within the program on a PC, and almost impossible on a phone.

The interview was with James Finlay on the "Afternoon Show", and covered my colourisation of my Darwin historical Photographs.

Click on the image and jump straight to my Google Drive and listen to the full 19:25 minutes.


Thank you Sajarn Stow for your assistance.

Darwin Links

This will be an ongoing project over possibly many months to build it into what I would like to achieve.
Any Commercial Websites that are added will only be Historical or Community based, such as Museums, Archives, History based tours, etc.

I will accept submissions from readers, but please, I need the URL, a Title, and a short description to  be able to add an entry easily.

I am still suffering from the effects of Long Covid (acquired in the NT), so please be gentle, and don't expect any additions quickly. Don...

Expand to display an index to Darwin all images.

Every image below has a link to 50 photographs. Simply click on the image to choose that group of 50.

Images: 0800-001 to 0800-050 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-051 to 0800-100 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-101 to 0800-150 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-151 to 0800-200 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-201 to 0800-250 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-251 to 0800-300 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-301 to 0800-350 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-351 to 0800-400 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-401 to 0800-450 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-451 to 0800-500 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-501 to 0800-550 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-551 to 0800-600 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.
Images: 0800-601 to 0800-650 Darwin Gallery of historical B&W photos converted to colour.

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Major Events

The 150th Anniversary of the Overland Telegraph Line

There will be events to commemorate the occasion up and down the line and a group in South Australia and the NT have a website to inform anyone interested in the 'Events' section.

It is also a place to read about the OTL and participate in forums.

The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a 3,200 km (2,000 mi) telegraph line that connected Port Darwin N.T. to Port Augusta in South Australia in 1872. This was a significant milestone in the history of the development of Australia.

Commemorative events are planned in S.A. and N.T. The links below will direct you to the schedules, venues and contact details for each event.

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Maps and Aerial Photographs

Zoom-able Map of the original Township of Palmerston 1870

Cadastral map of Palmerston (Darwin), Northern Territory. Details include lot numbers, reserves, Government House, street names, and first telegraph pole.

Zoom-able Map. Township of Palmerston 1887

Township of Palmerston, on the east side of Port Darwin. Including boundaries of "Chinese gardens" with a note, shows lot numbers, Pine Creek railway, Harbourmaster's residence, sold and unsold allotments, and cricket oval.

Parap railway workshops and sidings. 1895-1944.

Robert Porter

Parap railway workshops and sidings showing the two different layouts in 1895 and 1976.

Darwin -  Four layouts of railway station and yards. 1895 - on.

Robert Porter

Darwin. Four different layouts of the yard where the old railway station and associated buildings and structures from 1895 up until the closure of the North Australian Railway.

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Darwin map as it was in 1940

My thanks to Bryan Baker for pointing me to this map, and many other items.

This is a large 3.78Mb map with lot numbers. If you really want to study it in depth, I suggest you download the JPG to a PC,  and use an image viewer to navigate your way around it.

Darwin as it was on 18 February 1942 (before the bombing) Revised 2017.

Creator: Sean Casey
Citation address: https://hdl.handle.net/10070/457641

Residence Map

By Sean Casey Place of publication - Moil Territory Stories NT

Sean not only gave me permission to use this map on my website, he supplied me with his latest version.

This is a great map with a lot of work done to produce it. Lot numbers and all.

This version can be blown up to 500% and still be readable. Not that you need that.

I know many people will enjoy this map as it is now a great on-line experience. I also know it will trigger greater awareness and conversation of Darwin's History, on that dramatic day in Darwin.

My special thanks to Rosemary Chalmers for putting me in direct contact with Sean.

Clicking on the Updated image below to open the full PDF file. Best done on a PC.

The original map and full credits can be found at this Link:

Darryl Withnall's Upgrade of Sean Casey's Residency Map 18-Feb-1942

Creator: Darryl Withnall

For PC use only.

Darwin, as it was on 18 February 1942 (before the bombing), Revised 2017

With Sean's permission, Darryl has used his basic data and produced a web-friendly residence map of what Sean Casey has produced. This is a vector-based web image that is much clearer than a raster (jpeg, tiff, etc.) image, and does not lose resolution even when zoomed right in. It is very simple to navigate as it uses a point and view enlarged screen capture system.

In fact, it is much easier to run this program and check the results, than to try to explain it.
It really is simple now, to navigate over this map.

Darryl would like to add new features over a period of time, such as:
"You could have a button on a web page that hides all the buildings except the ones that still exist, like Cashman's News agency, Bank of NSW, Brown's Mart, etc".

These updates will take time, and suggestions are welcome.

Click on the image below to open the new map program:

From the 1887 Palmerston township map. Beach Lots 868, 869, and 870 are further detailed in the image below:

Darwin Town 1942 - 22 Locations Highlighted

Darwin War Years - Dept of Lands

Japanese Bomb Craters 1942-1943

Same Map - Without Craters.

Click the Large Arrow Below to open up The Full Story

The Full Story by Don McKenzie: Aerial photograph of Darwin 1944.

Darwin 1944 Military-grade Aerial photo with a modern GPS mapped street overlay.

A three way collaboration project by Don McKenzie, Bryan Baker, and Mick Gulovsen.

For many years, I have stayed at the ZEN apartments on Carey Street, looked out over the balcony, and had a magnificent view of the old Darwin Railway yards, and Stokes Hill. I always wondered about the location of the old Darwin Station. In fact, I had it on my thimble list to actually find out exactly where it was.

On the 6-Apr-1944, a year after I was born, a B&W military-grade aerial photograph was taken from 6000 feet of Darwin town.

Around the 18-March-2022

I rotated it 180 degrees to make it more in line with north being up, then colourised, enhanced, and sharpened it so that it became a reasonable quality image that could be looked at by anyone who wished to study the Darwin streets of 1944, the WWII years.

To set it to correct north would have meant a very unusual image shape, which would reduce overall resolution, or loosing perhaps 35% of the image. I felt this wasn't an option.

BTW My best claim to fame in this collaboration, may be having the first Personal Computer in Australia.
This was in March of 1978. This story is told on my "About Us" page.

I then asked for assistance in getting some street labels on the image, so that we could examine both "standard" and "street label" versions. I knew this may be a labour intensive job, and many hours could be spent, and didn't relish the thought of doing this myself.

Environmental Scientist Bryan Baker of Darwin, came to the rescue with a GPS mapped street overlay, that we added to the final image. Bryan has many years experience with aerial photography interpretation, GIS and mapping.

To top this off, Andrew King (Admin -  Darwin History FB Group)  came up with a better resolution B&W image, and questioned the resolution of the final output. So maybe this is a four way collaboration.

Then we found another major hurdle. Bryan wasn't able to mix this new high resolution image readily with his overlay.

I got onto my old friend Mick Gulovsen, who has spent 40+ years with me in the computer game and he was able to do the mixing. He is a wiz with images.

The resolution then shot up from approx. 900 x 900 up to around 4000 x 4000 pixels.

To my knowledge, this is the first time in Darwin that an analogue photograph has been mapped with a GPS street view overlay to this high resolution standard.


Alignment registration:

We all spent a lot of time fine tuning the overlay, to get a good match on the before and after images.

An aircraft at 6000 feet! Is the focal point directly in the middle of the image? Is the camera at precisely 90 degrees to the ground? There are so many things that could upset an analogue image from being 100% accurate in those years. Even perhaps slight air turbulence. So to match it in with what is a dead set accurate GPS generated map, requires a little bit of fiddling. There are slight inaccuracies that must be overlooked.


Major items of interest:

Lameroo Beach side of The Esplanade is a very different layout.
Mitchell Street no longer meets The Esplanade.
Cavenagh Street no longer meets The Esplanade.
Harry Chan Avenue takes over the bottom end of Cavenagh, and preserves the Tree of Knowledge.
Woods Street no longer meets The Esplanade.
McMinn Street takes a wild sweep across the bottom end of where Wood Street was. Previously it went straight down to the railway line.
Bennett Street ran all the way to the railway station on the right hand side of this image.

Because of recent road works, a small section of Tiger Brennan Drive seems to be isolated. This is between McMinn Street and Garramilla Boulevard. Just my opinion, I feel it could be Bennett Street still, so you can see it on sign posts as you drive into town. With no physical addresses in this section, it wouldn't be hard to do.

Aerial photograph of Darwin 1944.

A three way collaboration project by Don McKenzie, Bryan Baker, and Mick Gulovsen.

I have given a medium resolution option, as the images below are 4000+ pixels, and these links will display 2500+ pixel sizes. For casual viewing, these two links may suit most viewers.

If you click on the image below, it will open up in a new TAB, and a further click should bring you up to full resolution 4000 pixel mode.

0800-175

You can actually have two tabs open on a PC in full resolution view (4000 pixel mode), and flick between the tabs for comparisons.

Thank you Bryan Baker for the street overlay. Nice work.
And to Mick Gulovsen for mixing the hi-res images in with the overlay.

With Street Overlay:
(click to jump to image, another click to enlarge).

Aerial photograph of Darwin - Stuart Park 1944.

A three way collaboration project by Don McKenzie, Bryan Baker, and Mick Gulovsen.

If you click on the image below, it will open up in a new TAB, and a further click should bring you up to full resolution 4000 pixel mode.

0800-196

You can actually have two tabs open on a PC in full resolution view (4000 pixel mode), and flick between the tabs for comparisons.

Thank you Bryan Baker for the street overlay. Nice work.
And to Mick Gulovsen for mixing the hi-res images in with the overlay.

With Street Overlay:
(click to jump to image, another click to enlarge).

Video: 1955 aerial photo is morphed with a 2001 photo.

Andrew King
People are often asking where is the present day location of the old Darwin Railway Station.
Here is a short video with a 1955 aerial photo is morphed with a 2001 aerial photograph.

The Station is circled in red.

Video will open up in a new Tab, and you can set it to full screen if you wish.

Colour transition will start to take place at around the 10 second mark. You need to wait for it to change.

Map to Businesses and Buildings 1948 to 1954 in the Darwin CBD

Robert Porter Facebook post

I just came across this and has all the businesses and buildings 1948 to 1954 in the Darwin central district area. Some of these might have also been there before 1948 and still there after 1954. As there were no photos, the book is still available. A lot of those names, I haven't heard about, but I'd like to find out on the Internet or the N.T library.

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Google Earth and Military Grade Darwin Photographs. 6-April-2022

NOTE *** Google Earth Map 1. Darwin CBD Area.


Google Earth and Military Grade Darwin Photographs. 6-April-2022

I seem to have gathered up a small group of very talented computer savvy friends since I have been posting to the Darwin Facebook Groups.

They have been willing to join me in my quest to create a mixture of old and new Darwin, and share their results with everyone using modern technology. Looking from a very different viewpoint, we hope it brings a new dimension to the study of Darwin, both old and new.

Be warned. You need to be pretty much up to date with using a PC computer to gain a lot out of this little project. Google Earth experience will help considerably.

Bryan Baker has put together a Google Earth "KMZ" file that allows you to view a 1944 aerial image of Darwin CBD area, interlaced with Google Earth. This is a very similar operation to Google Maps.

Please let me also warn you, I have not extensively used Google Earth, in fact until Bryan prompted me, I hadn't looked at it for about 3 years, so I am not an expert. If you are, or a prepared to give it a try, here is what you need.

You need to download two things.
1) Google Earth Pro. This is free and must be installed on your PC.
2) 1940s image KMZ file. Nearly 1 Mb. You need to download the zip file and unzip it to a KMZ file.

You then run Google Earth, create a project, and load the KMZ file into it.

If you get that far, then the magic will begin.

I hope you can now teach me something new, as I know this is a powerful program, but have no idea how to get the best out of it.

And Good Luck!


Google Earth and Military Grade Darwin - Stuart Park Photographs. 11-April-2022

NOTE *** Google Earth Map 2. Darwin - Stuart Park Area.


Google Earth and Military Grade Darwin -Stuart Park Photographs. 11-April-2022

I seem to have gathered up a small group of very talented computer savvy friends since I have been posting to the Darwin Facebook Groups.

They have been willing to join me in my quest to create a mixture of old and new Darwin, and share their results with everyone using modern technology. Looking from a very different viewpoint, we hope it brings a new dimension to the study of Darwin, both old and new.

Be warned. You need to be pretty much up to date with using a PC computer to gain a lot out of this little project. Google Earth experience will help considerably.

Bryan Baker has put together a Google Earth "KMZ" file that allows you to view a 1944 aerial image of Darwin - Stuart Park area, interlaced with Google Earth. This is a very similar operation to Google Maps.

Please let me also warn you, I have not extensively used Google Earth, in fact until Bryan prompted me, I hadn't looked at it for about 3 years, so I am not an expert. If you are, or a prepared to give it a try, here is what you need.

You need to download two things.
1) Google Earth Pro. This is free and must be installed on your PC.
2) 1940s image KMZ file. Nearly 1 Mb. You need to download the zip file and unzip it to a KMZ file.

You then run Google Earth, create a project, and load the KMZ file into it.

If you get that far, then the magic will begin.

I hope you can now teach me something new, as I know this is a powerful program, but have no idea how to get the best out of it.

And Good Luck!


Google Earth On-Line Version. 11-April-2022

After a little experimentation, I have found that you can run the on-line version of Google Earth with Bryan Baker's KMZ files. You don't have all the features that the Pro Version gives you, but I feel for many users, this could be more than enough. See Image Below:

You need to do two things.
1) Go to the Google Earth on-line version.
2) Download the zip file and unzip it to a KMZ file.

I am told you can load both KMZ files, copy them to a folder,  and save them as a single file, but I haven't got there yet. Not sure if this is for online or PRO.

You then run Google Earth, create a project, and load the KMZ file into it.

If you get that far, then the magic will begin. Click on the 3D button.

And Good Luck!

Facebook Groups.

Darwin Colourising Yesteryear.

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Amy Johnson and Amelia Earhart. Two Famous Darwin Visitors 1930s. Amy Johnson (left) and Amelia Earhart in New York, 2 August 1933. Image courtesy of The Amy Johnson Estate.


A Facebook group to share Darwin's historical photographs that have been colourised. Photos should be of Darwin or the surrounding area and be historical in nature. For more details, please read the "About" Group information.

Darwin History

Darwin History Public group 22K members
Abbreviated Rules. Is it historical. The older, the better. Is it Darwin

Old Darwin 

Old Darwin Public group 40K members. This is a group that loves the old Darwin, so please post any photos you might have from the good old days for everyone to enjoy.

Darwin & NT High Resolution Photos

Public. Members 199


Mile Pegs NT - WW2 in the Northern Territory, Australia.

Miles Peg NT, is a site that aims to gather together stories and photos of World War 2 sites along the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory Australia.A note: Unless a press release photo sanctioned by the defense forces, please do not post pictures.

4,497 people follow this.

PastMasters.

The Top End is arid Australia in the Dry Season - but in the Wet, the wind swings to the NW & we rejoin the SE Asian world of pirates, spice & ancient trade that echoes through Yolngu oral history to inspire & inform our quest for that first contact.

3,057 people follow this.

Wild NT.

The Northern Territory, once referred to as "The Last Frontier" has always been seen as bit of a wild place. This page is for anything Northern Territory, with an emphasis on it's interesting and sometimes wild history.

27,846 people follow this.

Chinese in Darwin

Public. 11 members.

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You Tube.

Drone Kings i̶n̷ ḊḀṙẇḭṆ

Description Heading to Darwin? Want to know what to do when you are here? Travel with us around Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia. Using the DJI Mavic Air 2S drone, Samsung Gear 360, the GoPro Hero 8 Black and Kogan underwater cameras, take a look around Darwin, the top end of Australia. 1.17K subscribers.

Drone Kings Latest Offering.

These five storage tanks are located at different locations along the Darwin cliff face. 1 Located in Larrakeyah, another at Doctors Gully and 3 along the Bicentennial Park. Get up close like no one has before and view these grand tanks.

Aerial Views of Darwin during World War II

Thank you Marianne McAdie for directing me to this one:

Aerial Views of Darwin during World War II - The Bombing of Darwin
On 19 February 1942 Darwin was bombed by two separate Japanese air raids in the largest attack ever mounted by a foreign country on Australia. The strike left hundreds of soldiers and residents dead, and many others were injured.

This video was originally made to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin in 2012.

The video presents various aerial views over Darwin in 1941, 1943, 1945 and 2011. The views over the harbour are particularly interesting as they depict ships on fire. In the 1945 view, a large sunken warship can be seen just off the pier.

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How did Darwin Streets and suburbs get their names?

The early days of Palmerston:

On 5th February 1869, George W. 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 current  British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.

The streets of Palmerston (now known as Darwin) had been named by Goyder on the journey north from  Adelaide to the location long before the site of the township had been  selected. Goyder named all the streets after surveyors and members of  his party except for Cavenagh Street, which was named after Wentworth  Cavenagh-Mainwaring (1822-1895), a South Australian farmer, land agent and MP who was the Commissioner for Lands. His name was given to the  principal street and the town square.

The Streets of Palmerston.

The Suburbs of Palmerston.

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Historical Photograph Websites.

State Library of South Australia.

NT Govt. Territory Stories

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Historical Information Websites.

History of Darwin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The history of Darwin details the city's growth from a fledgling settlement into a thriving colonial capital and finally a modern city.

NT Modern

Devoted to cataloguing the many and varied architectural treasures of the Northern Territory, Australia.

 NT Modern seeks to identify some of the wonderful modernist buildings in the NT. The focus of this site is on public structures built post WW2 as there are already many organisations that have identified the architectural heritage (pre-WW2) of the NT.

Information relating to these buildings is fairly scarce to say the least, so the site is open to anyone who would like to contribute photos, specific information or even memories and anecdotes about the buildings. Obviously it's not an exhaustive list and we'd be happy to hear about buildings which are not featured that are still standing or those that have unfortunately been demolished.

Timeline of Darwin history

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Note: When Darwin was first settled it was called Palmerston and the port was called Port Darwin. In 1911 the town was renamed Darwin due to the common usage of the name.

Video China Town 1926.

Jeffrey Fong shared a link: Australian Screen. An NFSA Website.
In this short clip, the camera observes part of Darwin’s town centre, main street and shopfronts. People walking along the footpaths under shopfront verandahs look at the camera. A Chinese family walks into one of the shopfronts before the clip ends on a close-up on one of the boys looking straight into the camera.Just putting up this old movie of China Town area again for those that haven't seen it. You can see the Tree of Knowledge down Cavenagh St


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Historical Museums and Tourist Websites.

The Darwin Aviation Museum

The Darwin Aviation Museum (formerly known as Australian Aviation Heritage Centre) is an accredited Northern Territory tourism attraction hosting 30,000 visitors each year.

The Darwin Aviation Museum is the commercial arm of the Aviation Historical Society of the Northern Territory.

Bombing of Darwin Cruise.

Visit Stokes Hill and Fort Hill Wharf, oil tanks, and see the wrecks of the SS Neptuna and USS Peary as well as many other significant sites.

Marrakai Military Museum.

Specializing in WW2 military items. On Displays at Marrakai Military museum. Australian, American, German, Japanese and Russian uniforms and artifacts. Art, photos and ceramics. Items from Midway, Tobruk, Band of Brothers, Z Force, Sea Mine 40mm Bofors Auto canon, and much more. For the first time in 75 years.

The Only Mark 8 Motorized Cockleshell Canoe M.H.M.S 22 is on Display immortalized in the film The Cockleshell Heroes. The one on display was used by the Australia Z Force, Special Units in WW2. Darwin Best WW2 Museum Marrakai Military Museum.

36 Stephen Road Marrakai. Just Follow the signs From the Corroboree Tavern. Open All public holidays Wednesday to Saturday 9am to 5 pm Sunday 10am to 4 pm.

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Tools. How to.

Video: How to grab a Google Street View reference

Check out the video first, and you will see that your clipboard now has a copy of the link required.

Don't understand Clipboard? Do a "Ctrl and V" to paste the Clipboard contents into a message.

Google Street View:
https://goo.gl/maps/fKzkemnSFX89YjbR6

FAQ

Where was the Darwin Railway Station?

One of the most asked questions about the history if Darwin is "Where was the Darwin Railway Station?"

As shown in this 1944 colourised map, it can be found at the end of old Bennett Street. This is now in a car park off Frances Bay Drive, almost straight out from the ZEN apartments.

For the first time, we can now verify the exact location using a high resolution Military grade colourised photograph, that has a GPS generated "Streets and Labels" overlay mixed with it.

The station operated from 1889 to 1975.

-12.460173, 130.847247

Station location on Google maps. Verified with Bryan Baker.

Please share this story with your family and friends so that they can read about the Darwin stories, its history,  and what it has to offer tourists. 

Thank you very much, Don...

5/5 - (7 votes)

Last Updated on May 18, 2023

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