Millner, Darwin, 2004

Location

The Darwin office was under construction when Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin in Christmas 1974. Construction continued, after the clean-up of the town, and the building opened in 1976. Being a purpose built repository with the added protection offered by strict Cyclone Coding it was one of the safest buildings in the whole of the Territory.

With the event of self-government for the Northern Territory in 1978, a Custody and Ownership Project was undertaken to split the Darwin collection between the Commonwealth and the State, and by 1984 the collection consisted of Commonwealth records only. In 2002 the refurbished Darwin office of the National Archives was opened, occupying part of the building with a smaller collection than had been envisioned during the repository’s original construction in the 1970s.

The collection in Darwin

Treasures include the first meteorological recordings from the original site for the town of Palmerston 1865 (Adam Bay at the mouth of the Adelaide River), and further recordings from the new site of Palmerston on the Port of Darwin in 1865. There are also pastoral lease records dating from this era.

Like other offices Darwin holds Certificates of Exemption from the dictation test for many non-European residents of Darwin during the White Australia Policy era. Records relating to the administration of welfare for Aboriginal people throughout the Territory from the late 1920s are a rich resource. Records document the Japanese bombing raids on the Top End, and the massive evacuations of civilians from all areas in World War II.

The Darwin collection includes records of the development of the Uluru National Park, and the Kakadu National Park from its conception in the mid 1960s. The devastation of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy and the subsequent reconstruction of the city is also well documented.

Old Darwin office

Darwin

Kelsey Crescent
MILLNER NT 0810
Tel: (08) 8985 0300
Fax: (08) 8985 0399
PO Box 24
NIGHTCLIFF NT 0814