City of Darwin

This article is about a local government area in the Northern Territory. For the capital and metropolitan area, see Darwin, Northern Territory.

City of Darwin
Local government area
Country	Australia
State	Northern Territory
Region	Metropolitan Darwin
Established	1869
Council seat	Darwin City
Government
•  Lord Mayor	Kon Vatskalis (Independent)
•  Territory electorate(s)	Casuarina, Fannie Bay, Fong Lim, Johnston, Karama, Nightcliff, Port Darwin, Sanderson, Spillett, Wanguri
•  Federal division(s)	Solomon
Area [1]
• Total	111 km2 (43 sq mi)
Population
• Total(s)	84,613 (2018) [1]
• Density	762/km2 (1,974/sq mi)
Website	City of Darwin
LGAs around City of Darwin Unincorporated Top End Region Unincorporated Top End Region Unincorporated Top End Region Unincorporated Top End Region City of Darwin Litchfield Unincorporated Top End Region Unincorporated Top End Region Unincorporated Top End Region
Adjoining LGAs [2]

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]

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

Suburbs

^[10]

Chan Ward (west)	Lyons Ward (south)	Richardson Ward (north)	Waters Ward (east)	Suburb Map
Coconut Grove Jingili Ludmilla (with Bagot) Millner Moil Nightcliff Rapid Creek	Bayview Charles Darwin (part) Darwin City (part) East Point Fannie Bay Hidden Valley (part) Larrakeyah Parap Stuart Park The Gardens Woolner	Alawa Brinkin Buffalo Creek Casuarina Holmes Leanyer Lee Point Lyons Muirhead Nakara Tiwi Wagaman Wanguri	Anula (with Northlakes) Berrimah (part) Coonawarra Eaton Karama Malak (with Sanderson) Marrara The Narrows Winnellie Wulagi

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

Selected historical census data for City of Darwin local government area
Census year			2001 [11]	2006 [12]	2011 [13]	2016 [14]
Population		Estimated residents on census night	69,455	66,291	72,930	78,804
		LGA rank in terms of size within Northern Territory		1st	1st	1st
		% of Northern Territory population	34.26%	34.36%	34.41%	34.44%
		% of Australian population	0.37%	0.33%	0.34%	0.34%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Australian			24.1%	21.2%
		English			20.7%	19.8%
		Irish			7.2%	7.4%
		Scottish			5.7%	5.6%
		Chinese			3.6%	4.1%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Greek	3.5%	3.3%	3.4%	3.5%
		Tagalog	1.0%		1.6%	2.2%
		Cantonese	1.0%	0.9%
		Italian	0.8%	0.7%
		Hakka	0.8%	0.8%
		Indonesian		0.9%	1.0%
		Mandarin			1.3%	2.0%
		Filipino			1.0%	1.5%
		Nepali				1.2%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Catholic	25.4%	24.7%	24.1%	22.3%
		No religion	20.5%	24.0%	25.0%	31.2%
		Anglican	14.5%	12.2%	10.6%	7.6%
		Uniting	6.5%	5.6%	4.5%
		Eastern Orthodox	4.3%	4.1%	4.3%	4.4%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$687	A$899	A$1039
		% of Australian median income		147.4%	155.8%	157.0%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1524	A$2063	A$2385
		% of Australian median income		130.2%	139.2%	137.5%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$1286	A$1809	A$2164
		% of Australian median income		125.2%	146.6%	150.5%
Dwelling structure
Dwelling type		Separate house	55.3%	54.9%	54.7%	52.6%
		Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse	13.2%	11.9%	15.8%	13.3%
		Flat or apartment	23.8%	27.2%	26.7%	31.8%

Sister cities

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

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

References

1. "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017-18: Population Estimates by Local Government Area (ASGS 2018), 2017 to 2018". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018.
2. "Litchfield Municipality Localities (map)" (PDF). Northern Territory Government. 29 October 1997. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019. A document re the Litchfield Municipality has been cited because it is a map which depicts the relationship of the City of Darwin to its surroundings.
3. "The Larrakia People". Larrakia Nation. 31 March 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
4. "Home | Larrakia Development Corporation". www.larrakia.com.au. 9 February 2014. Archived from the original on 22 July 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
5. "History". City of Darwin. 2019. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
7. "Lord Mayor & Councillors".
8. "Morgan Rickard | NT Greens".
9. https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/politics/election-posters-for-clp-karama-candidate-brian-ogallagher-set-alight-threatening-suburban-home/news-story/b3062a872bfd2b14ba92e9842ff39279?amp ^{[ bare URL ]}
10. "Darwin City Council - Compiled Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
11. Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "City of Darwin (C)". 2001 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
12. Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "City of Darwin (C)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
13. Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "City of Darwin (C)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
14. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Darwin (C) (Local Government Area)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
15. "Darwin's Sister Cities". Darwin City Council. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2010.

External links

• City of Darwin website

12°24′55″S130°53′29″E / 12.4152°S 130.8914°E / -12.4152; 130.8914