Darwin, Australia

Establishing a European settlement on Australia's remote northern shores was never going to be easy. It took four abortive attempts over a period of 45 years before DARWIN (originally called Palmerston) was surveyed in 1869 by the new South Australian state keen to exploit its recently acquired "northern territory". The early colonists' aim was to pre-empt foreign occupation and create a trading post, a "new Singapore", for the British Empire.

Things got off to a promising start with the arrival in 1872 of the Overland Telegraph Line (OTL), following the route pioneered by explorer John McDouall Stuart in 1862, that finally linked Australia with the rest of the world. Gold was discovered at Pine Creek while pylons were being erected for the OTL, prompting the inevitable goldrush, and the construction of a southbound railway. After the goldrush subsided, a cyclone flattened the depressed town in 1897, but by 1911, when Darwin adopted its present name, the rough-and-ready frontier outpost had grown into a small government centre, servicing the mines and properties of the Top End. Yet even by 1937, after being razed by a second cyclone, the town had a population of just 1500. The first boom came with WWII after Japanese air raids destroyed Darwin once again – this time at a human cost of hundreds of lives (more bombs were dropped on Darwin than Pearl Harbour, a fact long concealed from the jittery nation). The fear of invasion, and an urgent need to get troops to the war zone, led to the swift construction of the Stuart Highway, the first reliable land link between Darwin and the south of the country.

Three decades of guarded postwar prosperity followed until Christmas Day, 1974, when Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin. By 3am the worst was thought to be over as winds that had raged since midnight began to abate. Instead, the becalmed eye of the storm was passing over the part-ruined city, only to return with even greater fury from the opposite direction. Lampposts were bent flat along the ground, houses were ripped from their piers, and at the Yacht Club mangled remains of boats filled the car park. Mercifully, a low tide meant that only 66 people lost their lives, but Tracy marked the end of old Darwin, psychologically as well as architecturally. For many residents this was the last straw and having been evacuated they never returned. Indeed, the myth of Darwinian resilience is just that: the town has always accommodated a transient population, happy to "give it a go" for a couple of years and then move on. The surrounding land is agriculturally unviable and Top End beef is among the poorest in Australia; most is exported as live cattle to Asia.

But since the mid-Nineties Darwin has been making a concerted effort to take itself seriously as Australia's commercial "gateway" into Asia. With the help of the tourist boom, kicked off by Kakadu's exposure in the film Crocodile Dundee, as well as some thoughtful refurbishments in Mitchell Street and the Mall, Darwin has shaken off the bland feel of a company town armoured against the climate. A spate of cool new outdoor eateries now allow you to appreciate the tropical ambience so that where once the city centre had all the life of a late night CBD, now it can be as lively as any other Australian capital. The long talked about Darwin rail link with Alice and Adelaide has finally become a reality, with the first freight due to run in 2004, followed hopefully by a passenger service.

Day-trips from Darwin include the popular Litchfield Park as well as the Aboriginal-owned Bathurst and Melville islands, a thirty-minute flight from town. Also worth a visit are either Crocodylus Park on the edge of Darwin or the Darwin Crocodile Farm south of town which makes a good day out when combined with the Territory Wildlife Park. It takes more than a day to appreciate Kakadu.