The City of Darwin is a local government area of the Northern Territory, Australia. It includes the central business district of the capital, Darwin City, and represents two-thirds of its metropolitan population. Located on the traditional land and waterways of the Larrakia people,[3] the city now covers an area of 111 square kilometres (43 sq mi) and, in June 2018, had a population of 84,613 people.[1]

History

The Larrakia people are the traditional owners of the lands and waters in and surrounding the Darwin local government area. Darwin is known as Garramilla in Gulumirrgin, one of the languages of the Larrakia people, but there are many place names within the area.[4]

The first Town and District Council was formed in 1874. The Darwin Town Council was created in 1915. From 1921 the five member Council had been elected on a ratepayer's franchise. In 1930 the Mayor and councillors resigned in protest against the re-introduction of adult suffrage. A caretaker Council was appointed until 1937, when it was abolished at the council's own request.

In 1955 a statement added to the Local Government Ordinance provided for the Constitution of the Municipality of Darwin. In 1957 the council was increased to twelve members and a Mayor.

An annual election providing for the Mayor and half of the Council members to be retired at each election, was also introduced at this time. The first council elections were held on 29 June 1957 and the first elected mayor of Darwin was Lucius (Bill) Richardson.[5] In 1959 an Ordinance provided that the Municipality of Darwin be constituted a city and named 'City of Darwin'.

The first female Mayor of Darwin was Dr Ella Stack, who served as the mayor of Darwin from May 1975 to November 1979, and as Darwin's first Lord Mayor from November 1979.[5]

Wards and councillors

City of Darwin is divided into four wards, governed by 12 Councillors across those wards, as well as one directly elected Lord Mayor. Councillors from each ward are elected using a Single Transferable Vote (STV) proportional system.[6]

More information Wards and councillors, Ward ...
Wards and councillors[7]
Ward Councillor Party Notes
Chan Peter Pangquee Independent
Morgan Rickard Greens [8]
Ed Smelt Independent
Lyons Mick Palmer Independent
Amye Un Independent
Richardson Jimmy Bouhoris Independent
Vim Sharma Independent
Rebecca Want de Rowe Labor
Waters Kim Farrar Independent
Brian O'Gallagher Country Liberal [9]
Sylvia Klonaris Independent
Close

Suburbs

[10]

More information Chan Ward (west), Lyons Ward (south) ...
Close

Most of the suburb of Charles Darwin which is largely occupied by the Charles Darwin National Park reaches outside of the boundaries of the City of Darwin into unincorporated area, as do large parts of Berrimah and Hidden Valley. The last two suburbs, Buffalo Creek and Holmes, were approved in 2007. They are still largely undeveloped, especially Buffalo Creek.

Demographics

More information Selected historical census data for City of Darwin local government area, Census year ...
Selected historical census data for City of Darwin local government area
Census year2001[11]2006[12]2011[13]2016[14]
PopulationEstimated residents on census night69,45566,29172,93078,804
LGA rank in terms of size within Northern Territory1stSteady 1stSteady 1st
% of Northern Territory population34.26%Increase 34.36%Increase 34.41%Increase 34.44%
% of Australian population0.37%Decrease 0.33%Increase 0.34%Steady 0.34%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry,
top responses
Australian24.1%Decrease 21.2%
English20.7%Decrease 19.8%
Irish7.2%Increase 7.4%
Scottish5.7%Decrease 5.6%
Chinese3.6%Increase 4.1%
Language,
top responses
(other than English)
Greek3.5%Decrease 3.3%Increase 3.4%Increase 3.5%
Tagalog1.0%Increase 1.6%Increase 2.2%
Cantonese1.0%Decrease 0.9%
Italian0.8%Decrease 0.7%
Hakka0.8%Steady 0.8%
Indonesian0.9%Increase 1.0%
Mandarin1.3%Increase 2.0%
Filipino1.0%Increase 1.5%
Nepali1.2%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation,
top responses
Catholic25.4%Decrease 24.7%Decrease 24.1%Decrease 22.3%
No religion20.5%Increase 24.0%Increase 25.0%Increase 31.2%
Anglican14.5%Decrease 12.2%Decrease 10.6%Decrease 7.6%
Uniting6.5%Decrease 5.6%Decrease 4.5%
Eastern Orthodox4.3%Decrease 4.1%Increase 4.3%Increase 4.4%
Median weekly incomes
Personal incomeMedian weekly personal incomeA$687A$899A$1039
% of Australian median income147.4%155.8%157.0%
Family incomeMedian weekly family incomeA$1524A$2063A$2385
% of Australian median income130.2%139.2%137.5%
Household incomeMedian weekly household incomeA$1286A$1809A$2164
% of Australian median income125.2%146.6%150.5%
Dwelling structure
Dwelling typeSeparate house55.3%Decrease 54.9%Decrease 54.7%Decrease 52.6%
Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse13.2%11.9%Decrease Increase 15.8%Decrease 13.3%
Flat or apartment23.8%Increase 27.2%Decrease 26.7%Increase 31.8%
Close

Sister cities

The city of Darwin has seven sister cities.[15]

More information State, Country ...
City State Country Year
Kalymnos South Aegean region Greece April 1982
Anchorage Alaska United States July 1982
Ambon Maluku Indonesia October 1988
Haikou Hainan China September 1990
Milikapiti Northern Territory Australia July 1999
Dili Dili District East Timor September 2003
Bacolod Negros Occidental Philippines August 2022
Close

References

Wikiwand in your browser!

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.

Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.