The
Northern Territory is a federal
territory of
Australia, occupying much of the centre of the
mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions.
It shares
borders with Western
Australia
to the west
(129th meridian east), South Australia
to the south (26th
parallel south), and Queensland
to the east (138th
meridian east).
To the
north, the territory is bordered by the Timor Sea
, the Arafura
Sea
and the Gulf of Carpentaria
. Despite its large area - over , making it
the third largest Australian federal division - it is sparsely
populated. With a population of 223,100 it is the least populous
division on the mainland.
The
history of the
Northern Territory began over 40,000 years ago when
Indigenous Australians settled the
region.
Makassan
traders
began trading with the indigenous people of the Northern Territory
for trepang from at least the
18th century onwards, and very likely for 300 years prior to
that.
The coast of the territory was first seen by Europeans in the 17th
century.
The British were the first Europeans to
attempt to settle the coastal regions in the 19th century; however
no attempt was successful until the establishment of a settlement
at Port
Darwin
in 1869. Today the economy is based on tourism,
especially Kakadu
National Park
in the Top End and the
Uluru-Kata
Tjuta National Park
(Ayers Rock) in central Australia, and mining.
The
capital city is Darwin. The population is not concentrated in
coastal regions but rather along the
Stuart Highway.
The other major
settlements are Katherine
, Alice Springs
, Tennant Creek
and Nhulunbuy
in the territory's north-east.
Residents of the Northern Territory are often known simply as
'Territorians'.
History
Indigenous Australians have lived in
the present area of the Northern Territory for an estimated 40,000
years, and extensive seasonal trade links existed between them and
the peoples of what is now Indonesia
for at least five centuries.
With the coming of the British, there were four early attempts to
settle the harsh environment of the northern coast, of which three
failed in starvation and despair.
The Northern Territory was part of
New South
Wales
from 1825 to 1863, except for a brief time from
February to December 1846, when it was part of the short lived
colony of North Australia.
It was
part of South
Australia from 1863 to
1911. Under the administration of South Australia, the
overland telegraph was constructed between 1870 and 1872.
A railway
was also built between Palmerston and Pine Creek
between 1883 and 1889. The economic pattern
of
cattle raising and
mining was established so that by 1911 there were
513,000 cattle. Victoria River Downs was at one time the largest
cattle station in the world.
Gold was found at
Grove Hill in 1872 and at Pine
Creek, Brocks Creek, Burrundi, and copper was found at Daly River
.
Letters Patent annexing the Northern Territory to South Australia,
1863
On 1 January 1911, a decade after federation, the Northern
Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to
Commonwealth control.
Alfred Deakin
opined at this time "To me the question has been not so much
commercial as national, first, second, third and last. Either we
must accomplish the peopling of the northern territory or submit to
its transfer to some other nation."
For a brief time between 1927 and 1931 the Northern Territory was
divided into North Australia and
Central Australia at the 20th parallel of
South latitude. Soon after this time, parts of the Northern
Territory were considered in the
Kimberley Plan as a possible site for the
establishment of a Jewish Homeland, understandably considered the
"Unpromised Land".
During
World War II, most of the
Top End was placed under military
government. This is the only time since Federation that an
Australian state or territory has been under military control.
After the war, control for the entire area was handed back to the
Commonwealth.
Indigenous Australians had
struggled for rights to fair wages and land.
An important event in
this struggle was the strike and walk
off by the Gurindji people at
Wave Hill
Cattle Station
in
1966. The Commonwealth Government of
Gough Whitlam set up the
Woodward
Royal Commission in
February 1973 set to inquire into how land rights might be achieved
in the Northern Territory. Justice Woodward's first report in July
1973 recommended that a
Central
Land Council and a
Northern
Land Council be established in order to present to him the
views of Aboriginal people. In response to the report of the Royal
Commission a Land Rights Bill was drafted, but the Whitlam
Government was dismissed before it was passed.
The
Aboriginal Land Rights
Act 1976 was eventually passed by the
Fraser Government on 16 December 1976 and
began operation on the following
Australia
Day (26 January 1977).
In 1978 the Territory was granted
responsible government, with a
Legislative Assembly headed by
a
Chief Minister.
During 1996 the Northern Territory was briefly one of the few
places in the world with legal voluntary
euthanasia, until the Federal Parliament
overturned the legislation.Before the overriding legislation was
enacted, three people committed suicide through voluntary
euthanasia, a practice orchestrated by Dr.
Philip Nitschke.
Government
Parliament
The Northern Territory is one of the three unicameral parliaments
in the country based on the
Westminster System.
The Northern
Territory Parliament consists of only one house, the Northern
Territory Legislative Assembly
which was created in 1974, replacing the Northern Territory
Legislative Council.
The
Northern
Territory Legislative Council was the partly elected governing
body from 1947 until its replacement by the fully elected Northern
Territory Legislative Assembly in 1974. The total enrolment for the 1947
election was 4,443, all of whom were white. The Northern Territory
was split into five electorates: Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant
Creek, Batchelor, and Stuart.
Whilst this assembly exercises similar powers as the governments of
the states of Australia, it does so by legislated delegation of
powers from the commonwealth government, rather than by any
constitutional right. The Monarch represented by the
Administrator of the
Northern Territory which is similar to that of state
governors.
Twenty-five members of the Legislative Assembly are elected to
four-year terms from single-member electorates.
For several years there has been agitation for full statehood. A
referendum was
held on the issue in 1998, which was resolved in the negative. This
was a shock to both the Northern Territory and Commonwealth
governments, for opinion polls showed most Territorians supported
statehood. However, under the Australian Constitution, the Federal
Government may set the terms of entry to full statehood. The
Northern Territory was offered three Senators, rather than the
twelve guaranteed to original states.
(Because of the
difference in populations, equal numbers of Senate seats would mean
a Territorian's vote for a Senator would have been worth more than
30 votes in New South
Wales or Victoria
.) Alongside what was cited as an arrogant approach
adopted by then Chief Minister Shane
Stone, it is believed that most Territorians, regardless of
their general views on statehood, were reluctant to adopt the
particular offer that was made.
Chief Minister and Cabinet
The
Chief
Minister of the Northern Territory is the head of government of
a self-governing territory, while the head of government of a state
is a
Premier. The Chief Minister is
appointed by the
Administrator of the
Northern Territory, who in normal circumstances will appoint
the head of whatever party holds the majority of seats in the
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. The current Chief Minister
of the Northern Territory is
Paul Henderson.
Paul
Henderson replaced
Claire Martin
on 26 November 2007. The Leader of the Opposition was
Denis Burke, head of the
Country Liberal Party, until
the Territory elections of June 2005, where Burke lost his seat.
The party then chose
Terry Mills as the
new Opposition Leader. Subsequently,
Jodeen Carney took over for a time. In January
2008,
Terry Mills again became the
Opposition Leader.
Administrator
The Northern Territory received self-government on 1 July 1978
under its own Administrator of the Northern Territory appointed by
the
Governor-General of
Australia. The Commonwealth government, not the Government of
the Northern Territory, advises the governor-general on appointment
of the Administrator, but by convention, consults first with the
Territory Government. The current administrator, Tom Pauling, was
sworn in on 9 November 2007.
Federal government
The Northern Territory is represented in the
Commonwealth parliament by two
Members in the House of Representatives, currently
Warren Snowdon and
Damian Hale for the Australian Labor Party
(ALP), and two members in the Senate, currently
Trish Crossin for the ALP and
Nigel Scullion for the CLP.
Local Government
The Northern Territory is incorporated into 17
Local
Government Areas, including 11 shires and 5 municipalities.
Shire, city and town councils are responsible for functions
delegated by the Northern Territory parliament, such as city
planning, road infrastructure and waste management. Council revenue
comes mostly from property taxes and government grants.
Demographics
Northern
Territory
population by year
|
| 1901 |
4,765 |
| 1956 |
19,556 |
| 1961 |
44,481 |
| 1974 |
102,924 |
| 1975 |
92,869 |
| 1981 |
122,616 |
| 1991 |
165,493 |
| 2002 |
199,411 |
| 2006 |
210,600 |
| 2011 |
236,300 |
| 2021 |
296,300 |
| 2031 |
364,000 |
| 2056 |
573,000 |
Source: Australian Bureau
of Statistics
|
|
Darwin skyline from East Point
The population of the Northern Territory in late 2006 was estimated
at 212,600 This was an 1.8% increase from the 2001
Australian Bureau of
Statistics report, and the population represents 1% of the
total population of Australia.
The estimated population of the Northern Territory at the end of
2008 was 221,100.
The population grew 2.2% which was the
second largest growth in the country with Queensland after Western Australia which grew 2.4%.
The Northern Territory's population is the youngest in Australia
and has the largest proportion under 15 years of age and the
smallest proportion aged 65 and over. The
median age of residents of the Northern Territory
is 30.3 years, almost six years younger than the national median
age.
More than 100 nationalities are represented in the Northern
Territory's population, including more than 50 organisations
representing different ethnic groups.
The 2006 Census revealed that of the Northern Territory's
population, 68.4% is of
European descent.
64,491 (30.6%)
English
with 44,662 (20.2%), Irish
with 14,346
(6.8%), Scottish
with 11,759 (5.6%), German
with 7,729
(3.7%) and Italian
with 3,308 (1.5%). Indigenous Australian people make up
32.5% of the Northern Territory's population, while Chinese
people with 4,081 make up (1.9%).
Indigenous Australians own some 49% of the land. The life
expectancy of Aboriginal Australians is well below that of
non-Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory, a fact that
is mirrored elsewhere in Australia. ABS statistics suggest that
Indigenous Australians die about 11 years earlier than the average
Australian.
There are Aboriginal communities in many
parts of the territory, the largest ones being the Pitjantjatjara near Uluru
, the
Arrernte near Alice Springs, the Luritja between those two, the Warlpiri further north, and the Yolngu in eastern Arnhem Land
.
In terms of birthplace, according to the 2006 census 13.8% of the
population were born overseas.
2.6% of Territorians were born in England, 1.7% in New Zealand
, 1.0% in Philippines
, 0.6% in the United States
and 0.5% in East Timor
.
More than 54% of Territorians live in Darwin, located in the
territory's north (
Top End).
The greater Darwin
metropolitan area and nearby Palmerston
is home to 120,900 people. Less than half of
the territory's population live in the rural Northern
Territory.
Religion
53.6% of Territorians describe themselves
Christian.
Roman
Catholics form the single largest religious group in the
territory with 20.3% of the Northern Territory's population,
followed by
Anglican (12.7%),
Uniting Church (7.0%) and
Lutheran (3.6%).
Buddhism
is the territory's largest non - Christian religion (1.4%),
followed by
Islam (0.5%) and
Hinduism (0.2%). around 21.9% of territorians claim
no religion.
Land Rights
The
Aboriginal Land Rights
Act 1976 established the basis upon which Aboriginal people in
the Northern Territory could, for the first time, claim rights to
land based on traditional occupation. In effect it allowed title to
be transferred for most of the Aboriginal reserve lands and the
opportunity to claim other land not owned, leased or being used by
someone else.
The Land Councils are representative bodies with statutory
authority under the Act. They also have responsibilities under the
Native Title Act 1993 and the
Pastoral Land Act 1992. There are four Land Councils in the
Northern Territory, they are:
The
Northern
Territory Emergency Response provides for the Commonwealth
Government to compulsorily acquire five year leases of townships
currently held under the title provisions of the
Native Title Act 1993 through with
compensation on a basis other than
just
terms. (The number of settlements involved remains
unclear.)
Education
Primary and secondary
A Northern Territory school education consists of six years of
primary schooling, including one transition year, three years of
middle schooling, and three years of secondary schooling. In the
beginning of 2007, the Northern Territory introduced Middle School
for Years 7-9 and High School for Years 10-12. Northern Territory
children generally begin school at age five. On completing
secondary school, students earn the
Northern Territory
Certificate of Education (NTCE). Students who successfully
complete their secondary education also receive a tertiary entrance
ranking, or ENTER score, to determine university admittance. An
International Baccalaureate is offered at one school in the
Territory - Kormilda College.
Northern Territory schools are either publicly or privately funded.
Public schools, also known as state or government schools, are
funded and run directly by the Department of Employment, Education
and Training. Private fee-paying schools include schools run by the
Catholic Church and independent
schools, some elite ones similar to English
public schools. Some Northern Territory
Independent schools are affiliated with
Protestant,
Lutheran,
Anglican,
Greek
Orthodox or
Seventh-day
Adventist churches, but include non church schools and an
Indigenous school.
As of 2009, the Northern Territory had 151 public schools, 15
Catholic schools and 21 independent schools. 39,492 students were
enrolled in schools around the Territory with 29,175 in public
schools, and 9,882 in independant schools. The Northern Territory
has about 4,000 full-time teachers.
Tertiary
Charles Darwin University
The Northern Territory has
one university.
Northern Territory University
(now called Charles Darwin University) enrolled its first student
in 1987.
Charles Darwin
University had about 19,000 students enrolled: about 5500
higher education students and about 13500 VET students. The first
tertiary institution in the territory was the
Batchelor
Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (established in mid
1960s).
Libraries
The
Northern Territory State
Library is the Territory's research and reference library. It
is responsible for collecting and preserving the Northern Territory
documentary heritage and making it available through a range of
programs and services. Material in the collection includes books,
newspapers, magazines, journals, manuscripts, maps, pictures,
objects, sound and video recordings and databases.
Geography
There are many very small settlements scattered across the
territory, but the larger population centres are located on the
single paved road that links Darwin to southern Australia, the
Stuart Highway, known to locals
simply as "the track".
The
Northern Territory is also home to two spectacular natural rock
formations, Uluru (Ayers Rock)
and Kata
Tjuta
(The Olgas), which are sacred to the local
Aboriginal peoples and which have become major tourist
attractions.
The most strikimg examples of australian's
tiger bush (also reffered as groove/intergroove
mulga) are found in this state (e.g.
NW of
Alice
Springs
or at the foot of Uluru and Kata Tjuta).
In the
northern part of the territory lies Kakadu National Park, which features breathtaking wetlands and native wildlife. To the north of that
lies the Arafura
Sea, and to the east lies Arnhem Land, whose regional centre is Maningrida
on the Liverpool River delta.There is an
extensive series of river systems in the Northern Territory.
These
rivers include: Alligator River,
Daly
River, Finke River, McArthur
River
, Roper
River
, Todd
River
and Victoria River
.
National parks
Climate
Average
monthly maximum
temperature in Northern Territory |
| Month |
Darwin |
Alice Springs |
| January |
31.8 °C |
36.3 °C |
| February |
31.4 °C |
35.1 °C |
| March |
31.9 °C |
32.7 °C |
| April |
32.7 °C |
28.2 °C |
| May |
32.0 °C |
23.0 °C |
| June |
30.6 °C |
19.8 °C |
| July |
30.5 °C |
19.7 °C |
| August |
31.3 °C |
22.6 °C |
| September |
32.5 °C |
27.1 °C |
| October |
33.2 °C |
30.9 °C |
| November |
33.2 °C |
33.7 °C |
| December |
33.6 °C |
35.4 °C |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology |
|
The Northern Territory has two distinctive climate zones.
The northern end, including Darwin, has a
tropical climate with high humidity and two
seasons, the wet (November to April) and dry season (May to
October). During the dry season nearly every day is warm and sunny,
and afternoon humidity averages around 30%. There is very little
rainfall between May and September. In the coolest months of June
and July, the daily minimum temperature may dip as low as , but
very rarely lower, and frost has never been recorded.
The wet season is associated with
tropical cyclones and
monsoon rains. The majority of rainfall occurs
between December and March (the southern hemisphere summer), when
thunderstorms are common and afternoon
relative humidity averages over 70% during the wettest months. On
average more than of rain falls in the north.
The central region is the
desert centre of
the country, which includes Alice Springs and Ayers Rock, and is
semi-arid with little rain usually falling
during the hottest months from October to March. Central Australia
receives less than of rain per year.
The
highest maximum temperature recorded in the territory was at
Finke
on 1 and 2 January 1960. The lowest minimum
temperature was at Alice Springs on 12 July 1976.
Economy
The Northern Territory's economy is largely driven by
mining, which is concentrated on energy producing
minerals,
petroleum and
energy and
contributes around $2.5 billion to the
gross state product and employs over
4,600 people. Mining accounts for 26 per cent of the gross state
product in 2006 - 2007 compared to just 7 per cent
nationally.
The economy has continued to grow during the 2005 - 2006 financial
year from the past two financial years. Between 2003 and 2006 the
gross state product had risen from $8,670 million to $11,476
million and increase of 32.4 per cent. During the three years to
2006 - 2007 the Northern Territory
gross state product grew by an average
annual rate of 5.5 per cent.
Gross
state product per capita in the Northern Territory ($63,548) is
also higher than the
gross
domestic product per capita for Australia ($45,021). This can
be attributed to the recent mining and resources boom.
The Northern Territory's exports were up 19 per cent during 2005 -
2006. The largest contributor to the territory's exports was:
oil and
gas (33.4 per cent),
iron-ore (20. per cent), other
manufactoring (5.9 per cent) and agriculture (4.9 per cent).
Imports to the Northern Territory totalled $2,887.8 million which
consisted of mainly machinery and equipment manufactoring (58.4 per
cent) and petroleum, coal, chemical and associated product
manufacturing (17.0 per cent).
The
principal mining operations are bauxite at
Gove
Peninsula
where the
production is estimated to increase 52.1 per cent to $254 million
in 2007-08. Manganese at
Groote
Eylandt
, production is estimated to increase 10.5 per cent
to $1.1 billion which will be helped by the newly developed mines
include Bootu Creek and Frances Creek. Gold is estimated to
increase 21.7 per cent to $482 million at the Union Reefs plant.
Uranium at Ranger Uranium Mine
.
Tourism is one of the major industries on
the Northern Territory.
Iconic destinations such as Uluru and Kakadu
make the
Northern Territory a popular destination for domestic and
international travellers. Diverse
landscapes, spectacular
waterfalls, wide open spaces,
aboriginal culture, wild and untamed
wildlife, all create a unique opportunity
for the visitor to immerse themselves in the natural wonder that
the Northern Territory offers. Images of Uluru (Ayers Rock) are
recognised around the world ensuring that Tourism in the Northern
Territory will remain a vital component of its future. In 2005-06,
1.38 million people visited the Northern Territory. They stayed for
9.2 million nights and spent over $1.5 billion.
The territory is well known for being promoted with the slogan
"You'll Never Never Know if you Never Never Go". This was
implemented as a result of the Kennedy Review in 1992.
Sport
Transport
The Northern Territory is the most sparsely populated state or
territory in Australia. Despite its sparse population there is a
network of sealed roads connecting the major population centres,
the neighboring states, and some other centres such as Uluru (Ayers
Rock),
Kakadu and Litchfield National
Parks.
The Stuart Highway, known as "The Track",
runs north to south, connecting Darwin and Alice Springs to
Adelaide
. Some of the sealed roads are single lane
bitumen. Many unsealed (dirt) roads connect the more remote
settlements.
The
Adelaide-Darwin Railway,
a new
standard gauge railway,
connects Adelaide via Alice Springs with Darwin, replacing earlier
narrow gauge railways which
only went north as far as Alice Springs.
The Northern Territory was one of the few remaining places in the
world with no speed restrictions on public roads. Since 1 January
2007 a default speed limit of 110 km/h applies on roads
outside of urban areas (Inside urban areas of 40, 50 or
60 km/h). Speeds of up to 130 km/h are permitted on some
major highways, such as the Stuart Highway.
Since the introduction of a universal 130km/h speed limit in 2006,
together with the introduction of demerit (penalty) points for
speeding, the Territory's road toll has risen markedly. The road
toll for 2009 to November 7, however, is under half of that for the
same period in 2008 and lower than for the same period in the
previous four years.
Darwin
International Airport
is the major domestic and international airport for
the territory. Several smaller airports are also scattered
throughout the Territory and are served by smaller airlines;
including Alice
Springs Airport
, Ayers Rock Airport
and Tennant Creek Airport
.
Media
Print
The
Northern Territory has only one daily tabloid newspaper, News Corporation's Northern Territory News,
Centralian Advocate which is circulated around the
Alice
Springs region twice a week. Also published is one
Sunday tabloid newspaper
The
Sunday Territorian. There are also 5 weekly
Community
Newspapers. The Northern Territory also receives the national
daily,
The Australian
Television
Metropolitan Darwin has had five broadcast television stations:
- ABC
Northern Territory. Produces nightly local
news at 7pm. (digital & analogue) (callsign:
ABD
- Channel 6 Analogue, Channel 30
Digital)
- SBS Northern
Territory (digital & analogue) (callsign: SBS - Channel 28 Analogue, Channel 29
Digital)
- Seven Network/Southern Cross Television Darwin.
Produces weeknightly local news updates . (digital &
analogue) (callsign: TND
- Channel
34 Analogue, Channel 32 Digital)
- Nine Network Darwin. Produces
weeknightly local news from 6pm - 6.30pm. (digital &
analogue) (callsign: NTD
- Channel
8 Analogue, Channel 31 Digital)
- Network
Ten/Darwin
Digital Television
Darwin. Receives Ten News At
Five from ATV-10
in
Melbourne
. (digital & analogue) (callsign:
DTD - Channel 33 Digital)
In addition, broadcasters operate digital multichannels:
Regional Northern Territory has a similar availability of
stations.
Imparja
Television is produced from Alice Springs and is available throughout most of the Northern
Territory. Produces weeknightly local news 6pm -
6:30pm.
Radio
Darwin has radio stations on both AM and FM frequencies. ABC
stations include
ABC NewsRadio
(102.5FM),
105.7 ABC Darwin
(
8DDD 105.7FM),
ABC Radio National (657AM),
ABC Classic FM (107.3FM) and
Triple J (103.3FM). The 2 commercial stations are:
Mix 104.9 (
8MIX), Hot 100 (
8HOT)
The leading community stations are
104.1 Territory FM and
Radio Larrakia (8KNB).
The radio stations in Alice Springs are also broadcast on the AM
and FM frequencies. ABC stations include Triple J (94.9FM), ABC
Classic FM (97.9FM),
783 ABC Alice
Springs (783AM) and ABC Radio National (99.7FM). There are two
community stations in the town--
CAAMA
(100.5FM) and 8CCC (102.1FM). The commercial stations, which are
both owned by the same company are
Sun 96.9
(96.9FM) and
8HA (900AM). Two additional
stations, Territory FM (98.7FM) and
Radio
TAB (95.9FM) are syndicated from Darwin and Brisbane
respectively.
See also
Lists:
Notes
- ABS population estimates (March 2008)
- Federal Parliament NT Legislation,
http://www.nt.gov.au/lant/parliament/committees/rotti/parldebate.shtml
- Profiles&textversion=true&navmapdisplayed=true&breadcrumb=PLD&&collection=census&period=2006&producttype=Community
Profiles Basic Community Profile 2006 Census Community Profile
Series : Northern Territory
- Department of Employment, Education and Training,
http://www.deet.nt.gov.au/education/
- Charles Darwin University Annual Report,
http://www.cdu.edu.au/vc/annualreport.html
- About Minerals and Energy Department of Regional
Development, Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources
- Northern Territory Budget
- Northern Territory Budget Mining and
energy
References
- Hill, Ernestine. 1951. The Territory: The classic saga of
Australia's far north. Angus & Robertson. Reprint: 1995.
ISBN 0-207-18821-1
- Govan, A. (2007) Broadband debate key to NT's future. N.T.
Business Review, vol. N/A, no. N/A, p.7
- Morrison, P. (2000) a pilot implementation of internet access
for remote aboriginal communities in the "Top end" Of Australia.
Urban Studies, Vol. 37, No.10, pp. 1781–1792.
- Toyne, P. (2002) Northern Territory Governments Response to the
House of Representatives Communications, Information Technology
& the Arts Committee inquiry into Wireless Broadband
Communications. In N.T. GOVERNMENT (Ed.) (pp. 3). Darwin: Northern
Territory Government.
- Toyne, P. (2003) Remote Areas Telecommunications Strategy
2003-2008. In N. T. GOVERNMENT (Ed.) (pp.1– 32). Darwin N.T. viewed
6 February 2008,
/www.nt.gov.au/dcis/it/docs/ntg_remote_telec_strat.pdf>
External links
.jpg/180px-Aboriginal_Art_Australia(3).jpg)
and Melville Island
north of Darwin
Island
National Park
Coastal Reserve
National Park
Conservation Reserve
(including Kings
Canyon
)
Thermal Springs
)
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