Why you should swap Melbourne for Darwin this autumn

Let me know if people in Darwin still clap for the beaut sunsets,” my friend Maggie insists before my trip. I’ve seen and heard people clap for pilots nailing a smooth landing, or at the end of movies occasionally, but for a natural phenomenon that happens every day – really?

I’m not sure I believe Maggie, as I touch down in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory. It’s 5C in Melbourne but as the plane doors open and 30C heat wafts in the aircraft I’m left in no doubt about Darwin’s tropical reputation. This city is always warm; seasons are marked as dry or wet, much like Southeast Asia, which is the same distance from here as southern Australia.

I hear that Mindil Beach is the famous sunset spot in town, and make a note to get there to scope out the clapping situation before the week is out. Like Melbourne, and indeed almost all Australian cities, Darwin spreads along a stretch of curving coast, but unlike the former, getting around is easy here. You can reach most places on foot or by scooter. So it’s a walk to the city centre that takes me to meet spritely genius David Collins, director of Darwin Street Art Festival.

Dave has kindly agreed to show me round the brilliant, large-scale murals he and his team have been installing on the walls of Darwin’s buildings during eight years of festivals, rather than me going solo and using their augmented reality app. Within a few stops, it becomes extremely apparent that Darwin is a small city with an “everyone knows everyone” vibe; on each block, people wave Dave down. “Ah I haven’t seen him in years,” he beams.

The festival takes place annually in May and June with 70 per cent of the more than 120 pieces by local muralists, and even those by international painters tend to celebrate local culture, nature and artists. One of the most prominent is the colossal piece by Melbourne-based Peter “CTO” Seaton; a five-story portrait of Hilton, his local Aboriginal tour guide.

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I’m here during the annual Darwin Festival, which includes vibrant theatre, music performances and an incredible art fair and fashion show, all by Aboriginal artists. At the beginning of all the events I attend, “Welcome to Country” rituals are performed by a local member of the Larrakia people – the welcome can only be delivered by First Nations people from that area. It’s different from the “Acknowledgement of Country” that is delivered before every public event now in Australia. The Larrakia were the first Indigenous people to petition for their land to be returned, as early as the 1970s – it was formally handed back in 2016.

Aside from Darwin’s annual festival and exceptional art fair, there are brilliant First Nations-led galleries, markets and tours to be enjoyed year-round. Darwin’s Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory hosts an annual fine art exhibition and awards, Telstra Natsiaa, which is on until January 2025. While downtown, Sister 7, Aboriginal Bush Traders, Paul Johnstone Gallery and Songlines all sell fine art by Indigenous artists – promoting and valuing their work properly and with due respect, rather than treating them as souvenirs, which so many stores in Australia still do.

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Darwin is also famous for being the gateway to the Outback: there are three huge parks nearby, so I can’t turn down a plane ride to Kakadu National Park. I’m invited to sit in the co-pilot’s chair and as I put the large headset on, blurt out “I feel like I’m in Top Gun”. No one agrees. Clearly there’s a lack of film fans on board today’s Kakadu Air flight.

Our guide leading the Guluyambi Cultural Cruise, a small boat tour that slowly weaves along the East Alligator River, turns out to be none other than Hilton Garnarradj, a Gunbalanya resident and subject of the five-story mural on Austin Lane I’d seen just a few days before. I give away that I’m very impressed at the serendipity of our meeting, and he replies: “Yes, I’m very famous in Darwin.” All with an air of bemused pride. This stuff does not happen in Melbourne.

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And fine, I grant you Melbourne is considered the creative capital of Australia, but the choice of galleries and gigs there is pretty overwhelming – and certainly less entwined with Indigenous culture. Not that there aren’t museums and cultural centres run by First Nations people, but their presence is not interwoven in the fabric of the city in the same way as it is in the Northern Territory. As Dave told me on our street art tour: “In Darwin, we’re not separated into different neighbourhoods for different folks, we’re all from somewhere else and we’re all mixed together.”

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If a city with community vibes, that’s a walkable size and has beautiful weather sounds good, then Darwin is the place for you this autumn. I finally get to Mindil Beach on my last night and find myself clapping along with the locals at the jaw-dropping sunset. It really is a whole swathe of colours like I’ve never seen before. This appreciation of the environment is peak Darwin and embodies its unsung magic – long may it stay this way.

Adina Vibe is not only fantastically located right on the waterfront of Darwin Harbour, but it has Larrakia culture infused throughout, with traditional art and textiles everywhere, plus information panels and videos so you really get a sense of the Larrakia country you are visiting as soon as you check-in. The in-house dining at Curve Restaurant is great, with a daily menu of seasonal local fare – expect lots of delicious fish dishes.

Lucie Grace was a guest of the Northern Territory tourism board.

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