Date: 1-2nd August 2025
Travelled: 50 kms around Darwin
Visited: Darwin Botanical Garden, Palmerston Pioneer Cemetery and USS Peary Memorial
Stayed: Lee Point Resort CP, $62, S12.66613, E132.83534
We have become regulars at Casuarina Aquatic Centre in the mornings. Arriving at about 8.15 we manage to share a lane to start or even a lane each by half way through our laps. At $4.50 for seniors it almost half the entry in Sydney.
We try for a reasonably early start on our first objective, The George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. Established in 1886 it was originally intended as an experimental nursery to find out what plants would survive in Darwinโs harsh two season climate.
Itโs overcast this morning and you can feel the humidity as we wander about. The gardens seem to be a popular jogging or walking path for the locals as there only seems to be the odd people, reading the information panels.
The gardens seemed to be somewhat dormant awaiting the end of the dry season possibly.
An hour later an the temperature now sitting on 30ยบ weโre glad to be back at the carpark and feel the carโs air-conditioner doing its thing.
Our next point of interest is Palmerston Pioneer Cemetery. Darwin was originally known as Palmerston hence the name (not to be confused with the new suburb of Palmerston some 12 kms south of Darwin). The first burials here took place in 1872 the cemetery closed in 1919. Records show 1230 burials but some 450 were never formally recorded. The information panel describes a local practice known as โJumpingโ.
As the ground was very rocky and hard to dig the local authority would order several graves to be dug in advance, then left to wait for a customer. It became practice to slip into the cemetery at night and place unknown dead into these waiting graves.
Itโs only a relatively short drive from the cemetery to Bi-centennial Park which overlooks Darwin harbour. The park is a lovely stroll but weโve come here to see the USS Peary Memorial.
On the 19th February 1942 the Peary a United States Navy Destroyer was in Darwin harbour when 242 Japanese planes attacked the city and harbour. The Peary was struck several times before sinking, taking the lives of 88 of its crew members.
More on our Darwin exploration next blog.
Michael + Pam
