Meeting Indians in Darwin
The fact that the Indian community in Darwin has a rich history and plays an integral role in the multicultural Northern Territory, has always interested me, as some of my Punjabi ancestors probably came here in the 1800’s as labourers in agriculture and gold mining.
If you didn’t know it, Darwin was first called Palmerston in 1869, but the port was later called Darwin in 1911, named after the English naturalist, geologist and biologist Charles Darwin, who had never actually visited the city.
Darwin’s thousands of years of interesting history includes indigenous habitation, European exploration, wartime devastation in Feb 19, 1942, the equally devastating cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1974 and now finally, modern urban development.
By the 1970’s more Punjabis came along with others from Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala as professional workers – teachers, engineers or geologists.
So, in late May my family and I left cool Brisbane to holiday in humid Darwin. We often caught an Uber, and our drivers were always Indians, as were security staff in Coles and events like the Sunset Markets at Mindil Beach. Also, when walking around Darwin there were many people of Indian origin to be seen.
When I chatted to them, they said how much they enjoyed their lives in Darwin, especially that in the 2024 General Elections, Khoda Patel, born in Gujarat, India, became the first Hindu MLA in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.
When we drove the 200 km to camp and walk at Kakadu National Park there were no Indians to be seen anywhere! Indians like cricket but not hiking or camping in the hot outdoors full of mosquitoes!
However, I did have a brief conversation with Ali, at the Indigenous Museum at Cooinda, a Muslim on holiday from Maharashtra and bravely driving alone to and from Sydney.
Going to the airport in an Uber to get our flight back to Brisbane, naturally our driver was an Indian from Gujarat.
The most meaningful memory I have of Darwin is of the contemporary Christ Church Anglican Cathedral which has as its entrance, the only surviving wall of the old Cathedral totally destroyed by cyclone Tracy in 1974. The Cathedral had also been damaged in the Japanese war time raids on Darwin.
It symbolised to me the resilience of the human spirit to somehow rebuild when all seems destroyed or hopeless, as they had hope for a better future.
May you also be able to rebuild in your own life, and the lives of others, when all seems hopeless and destroyed. Never, ever give up!
Peter Lane Rai May 28, 2026.
