Darwin

The 1880s started with a boom in Palmerston and the Top End. South Australian investors flocked to put their money into gold mines, sugar and coffee plantations, and the pastoral industry. Cattle stations bigger than a British county were carved out of the bush. The Overland Telegraph Line stretched across the continent, and the Top End was alive with Aborigines, explorers, agriculturalists, pastoralists, and reef miners. Then came the railway builders, pearl divers, Chinese 'Coolies', and 'misfits, missionaries and mercenaries'.

The story of Palmerston (Darwin) and the Top End in the 1880s is a story of murder and mayhem, fortunes won and lost, challenges taken up, tragedies unfolded, and golden opportunities grasped by extraordinary men and women. It was they who began to turn this remote area of Australia into what it is today, and they who forged a new Australian identity - that of the 'Territorian'.

With a foreword by His Honour the Honourable Austin Asche AC QC, the 13th Administrator of the Northern Territory.

About the Author

Derek Pugh OAM is a historian has lived in the Northern Territory for over 40 years. After a career in Education contexts ranging from large urban senior schools, to tiny remote homeland centre schools in Arnhem Land, and several International schools. He has published 15 books. One of these – Tambora - took out the Territory Read Best Non-fiction Award for 2016 and another - Darwin: Origin of a City - was shortlisted for the Chief Minister’s Book Award in 2020. Current projects include a book on Overland Telegraph Line and a documentary film script for the upcoming bicentenary of the Fort Dundas settlement.