A history of Darwin in the 1950s, exploring the stories and circumstances of the people who lived there.

As the most northerly capital city on the Australian continent, Darwin is unique in many ways. It has a tropical climate, it is the capital of the largest Australian territory, and its people manage to share the coast and waterways with a crocodile population that would terrify southerners. Darwin has suffered man-made and natural disasters during its history. Both the Japanese bombing raid during the Second World War, and Cyclone Tracy in 1974, led to mass evacuations. Today, Darwin is a modern city. Its port handles a large percentage of Australia's live cattle trade, it is home to large defence force establishments, and it is a gateway city for tourists visiting the magnificent wonders of Kakadu.

"This book traces the development of Darwin's social and physical history over the forty-two years of South Australia's administration of the region. Each chapter covers the term of office of the senior government offricer in Darwin, starting from Surveyor-General George Woodroffe Goyder, whose team of men surveyed the town site and the surrounding country in 1869, through all the Government Residents to Samuel James Mitchell who orchestrated the ceremony which marked the takeover of the Territory by the Commonwealth Government." --book cover.