Darwin The Friendly City. Australian Diary 125.

[@pammckeen2048]

Well that was fabulous. It was like that when we went there to live in 1972. It was a friendly city indeed. Thanks for sharing!

[@tedwhiteaker9682]

Great footage of lost times. Thanks for posting.

[@chrisjohnson6876]

Love all the old cars, FB/EK's etc. heady days indeed. Thanks for the upload

[@gjmob]

I had a few HJ's in Darwin.

[@chrisjohnson6876]

@John Smith Yes, the Val would certainly have been the fastest of the 3, back then. I'm not really a lover of cars with fins, but do have a soft spot for the FB/EK, As they were more Aussie looking, than US Land yachts

[@keithammleter3824]

Strewth! A Comet airliner! In 1963 it must be the extremely rare Comet 4 - it has 24 windows.

[@danrobinson572]

Fantastic pictures and video!!!

[@glennjohnson8805]

Darwin is home, been down south, many times, Darwin has so many champion sportman & women, one of favorites Ninny Briston local Aboriginal boy, best bloke , and a mighty footballer, both codes .Luv ya Darwin, what a place 🛩

[@MrOx85]

Shit hole mate born and raised here.Use to be chilled now its an agro longrrasser town

[@someguy3522]

I know that Darwin takes a lot of crap from the rest of Australia, but I think its a wonderful city.

[@stonedsloth6367]

4 people dead in a shooting.

[@thomaselliott573]

@@stonedsloth6367 You obviously are a person of great insight

[@pyrogaming2500]

Bombed, washed by hurricane and also port owned by China. That place is a shithole these days

[@silentsketcher_97]

It’s a lot easier going than some. As for the port, thank the liberals for selling it to the Chinese.

[@AcePanno1]

I was a 3 year old living in Darwin at the time

[@listening2all]

Jasper C Debussy I was 1 year old in 1963. We lived in Batchelor. Dad and his brother Phil and Leslie Baker worked at the power station.

[@doubtingthomas6146]

Interesting how the wildlife of the Northern Territory are barely mentioned in this doco. Modern ones barely shut up about crocodiles and snakes.

[@baderlade]

Everyone is so slim!

[@robstermclean4467]

"The city now has a population of twelve thousand people" says the narrator. Oh for the innocence of the 1960's.

[@acde9355]

It has been over 132k by 2016, and it's reaching 158k by the mid-2020.

[@mebeasensei]

@@acde9355 is it still a ‘friendly’ city? Was it really friendly?

[@graemewilliams1308]

I visited Darwin every month for 17 years. Great place esp Darwin Hotel & Yacht Club.

[@julieallen827]

Sailing Club

[@graemewilliams1308]

Sailing club/Yacht club all I know is we had to cook our own steaks. LOL

[@julieallen827]

Yes did that too. At least your steak is the way you want it cooked.

[@denisedann8186]

there is a yacht club and a sailing club

[@julieallen827]

Oh and the Darwin was a great pub but sadly demolished in 1999

[@jordy9443]

When I went to Darwin in December 2016. The population was 120,000

[@robertfoster7807]

best place i ever lived in

[@suzyk4592]

We came in 1967 and lived in a second world war hanger in Winnellie across from Stan cannons. It has been altered but is still there over the road from the water tower.

[@Baloo_DaBear]

Is the hanger still there? That’s awesome

[@jasoncarpp7742]

This looks like it was taken during the Summer of 1963.

[@NFSAFilms]

Jason Carpp Hi Jason, yes it certainly looks like that but Darwin is in the tropics so the winter / summer dichotomy doesn't really apply. In Darwin it is usually about the wet and the dry seasons and in this film it looks like the dry (May to September). Temperature wise it probably averages around 30 Celsius. Hence the need for so many pubs - which is what you may have been hinting at ;)

[@jasoncarpp7742]

NFSA Films I reckon so. I'm from Seattle, Washington USA, and our seasons change from one part of the year to another. Between June and October is our Summer, between November through March, is Winter. From March to June, it's Spring. :)

[@NFSAFilms]

Jason Carpp Some indigenous tribes from this region divided the year up into 8 "seasons". Notions like summer / winter and wet / dry are, of course, the European influence.

[@NFSAFilms]

+aranyik knives Hi Aranyik thanks for your detailed response. It's a fascinating topic that highlights the inappropriateness of the European 4 season model for many Australian regions. For Indigenous people it varies from group to group based obviously on where they are located and the natural events that occur in their region throughout the year. The Gulumoerrgin group from around Darwin divide the year into 7 main season according to the calendar they recently developed with the CSIRO. Whereas the Ngani'gi people from the Daly River region have a year divided into 13 'seasons' based around the yearly cycle of the speargrass.

[@thomaselliott573]

@@NFSAFilms Ya speared that one right mate

[@istp1967]

Berry Springs - now I'm getting Homesick 😢

[@graemewilliams1308]

Ansett crews loved Berry Springs ..

[@godfreypoon5148]

Flying a Comet to Darwin? Talk about taking your chances.

[@graemewilliams1308]

It's a Comet 4 no problem.

[@Aymiikeeganmelb]

Darwin Australia 1963

[@mebeasensei]

…a matter of indifference to everyone….eh..em…

[@Davez621]

Apparently in the early 60s, there were almost no cars sold in Australia with air conditioning (not counting a few top of the line Mercedes and Rolls Royces). It would have been unbearable.

[@Davez621]

@John Smith That's a generalization. Air conditioning was standard on Mercedes since the 60s.

[@Jo_Wardy]

Well they had vent windows or fans on dash 😂 but yeah it would’ve been hot but mind you skinnier would’ve been less hot

[@Sigmagreek235]

5:43 That's the chruch that I go to

[@andybrown6981]

Are the water skiers and sailors not worried about falling in the water - what with sharks and crocs about?

[@hebneh]

"Soccer played in 80 degrees" (F), as though that was intolerably hot. I was amused at the mentions of how people could thrive and endure in heat, which of course refers to white people, who in the 19th century were widely thought to be incapable of truly functioning successfully in the tropics. To have this attitude still in place in the 1960s is somewhat astonishing.

[@cokeguts8977]

hebneh Well I'm not white and I'm born and bred here in Darwin and even I have trouble functioning in this poxy heat. 😥

[@bobbypaluga4346]

hebneh - I live in Phoenix, AZ likely one of the very hottest large (1 million and up) cities on earth. Soon we’ll have daytime temps in the 43C area and up. I moved here when I was 22 from Denver in the Rocky Mountains. I immediately got a construction job framing houses. In effect I was living in 21-25 C daytime weather in Denver a few days later I was outside all day building houses. I wouldn’t recommend it, but you can adjust to extreme temps. I am ready to reverse the move and go back to Denver. I’m sure Darwin has a much higher humidity than Phoenix

[@stevetarrant3898]

@@bobbypaluga4346 I come from Darwin but also lived in Perth WA. Humidity has a major effect on comfort levels. A 34° day in Darwin is akin to a dry 42° day in Perth. It's not just the sweat, humidity seems to just suck the energy out of you.

[@andybrown6981]

@@bobbypaluga4346 It was quite shocking in a car in Adelaide (no ac) at 42 degrees .. I cannot imagine Darwin on that same day sitting in the tropics at 12 degrees latitude whereas Adelaide way down at 35 degrees.

[@carlakhasakhala7047]

I am so shook rn

[@4672-m9f]

Time Machine please

[@NFSAFilms]

All aboard...!!

[@aquaboy68]

what are sea wasps....?

[@redplanet7163]

I'm guessing urukanji jellyfish. Deadly,

[@FilmingAustralia1623]

darwin is the best place in australia its not busy and they now how to keep a virus away from them did they have any idea of crocodiles in the water

[@fiercetoast8338]

MANDORAH MENTIONEDDDDDD

[@blakesooly2722]

12,000 people wow so amazing the population now is almost 300,000

[@Davez621]

Nowhere near 300,000. Today's population is 135,000.

[@jahmulugu4425]

every city in the world has increased in population in similar manner.

[@mebeasensei]

Look them sailing! Don’t fall off. Crocs are waiting….actually they were shooting them , so many that they nearly went extinct. Then in the early 70s they stopped it…and the crocs have boomed.

[@andybrown6981]

Good to know the numbers are up and they have 'come back biting'.

[@hebneh]

I wonder how many of these buildings survived Cyclone Tracey on Christmas Day 1974. Certainly those 2-story houses probably didn't make it. Most didn't, from what I've seen on KZbin. The cars shown in this film are most enjoyable to view.

[@denisedann8186]

I recognized the churches and some buildings from that era pre Tracey that are still standing

[@davidtaylor351]

I lived in Darwin between 1980 and 81. Around 85 % of the damaged part of the city had already been rebuilt by then. Cyclone Tracy was bad enough in terms of those killed and injured, and the damage it did. But to provide some perspective. It is common to hear that Darwin was destroyed by Tracy.The reality is, that approximately half, maybe a little more, but thereabouts, of the buildings and houses of the city were destroyed, or severely damaged. Now that of course is bad enough. But a number of those houses and buildings were repairable. And they were repaired, as part of the general rebuild. And yes there were still some 'poll' houses in Darwin in 1980 - 81. Incidentally, i was in Darwin when the next biggest cyclone after Tracy, tropical cyclone Max hit in 1981. Thankfully because of the rebuild and better overall preparation. The damage was comparatively light. Just the same, as they say, it certainly blew up a storm! As i recall, it reached the peak of its fury between 3 and 5 in the morning, and then steadily blew itself out.

[@bury_the_elite65294]

@@davidtaylor351 I watched a doco recently (IIRC it was made in early 2015, shortly after the 40th anniversary of TC Tracy) about how the Australian Bureau of Meteorology did some computer modelling of what the wind speeds would've been after the anemometer & radar at Darwin airport failed (about 0300 Xmas Day '74). They believe that TC Tracy would've had gusts of 260 to 280 km/h (IIRC). Of course that can't be taken as absolute truth, and we'll never know for sure exactly what speed Tracy gusted up to, but with all the advancements in technology since 1974, the BOM should be commended for their efforts...

[@floot6799]

300,000 in Darwin?.... musta fuckin' trebled in size since I was there last year...

[@MrOx85]

Not real friendly anymore.lol

[@MisterPolitical1]

Sydney the rudest city

[@MisterPolitical1]

Adelaide the cheapest city