Larger text size icon Smaller text size icon

Place Names Register Extract

Southport

If you know of any information about this place name which does not appear in this extract, please let the Place Names Committee know by completing a submission form.

Print Extract | Search Again

Name Southport
Type Designation Locality
Place Id 2078
Place Type Administrative Area
Status Registered
Date Registered 29 July 1998
Location (Datum GDA94)  
Latitude: -12° 43' S (Decimal degrees -12.7292)
Longitude: 130° 57' E (Decimal degrees 130.9529)
View Map | View in NT Atlas | View in Google Earth
Locality / Suburb  
  (None Found)
Local Government Area  
  Litchfield Council
History/Origin This locality is based on the Town of Southport.
During Goyders Survey of Port Darwin and Environs in 1869, four small satellite towns were surveyed in the hinterland around Darwin. Southport, as one of these satellite towns was pegged at the junction of the Blackmore and the Darwin Rivers and soon became the commencement point for overlanders to the Pine Creek goldfields.
When, in 1885, the rail link between Palmerston and Pine Creek bypassed the town on a more direct route, Southport slowly declined in status.
Wells, floor slabs and other relics are all that remain from the once prosperous town which was larger than Palmerston. The old Cemetery contains some 60 people who died at Southport during those early years. Only in recent years have people again begun to reside on the freehold lots of this old historic Townsite.

Register & Gazettal information

Date Gazettal Comment
29/10/1997 NTG43
29/07/1998 NTG29
Print Extract | Search Again