Place Names Register Extract

Alawa

Extract date: 04/02/2026

Name Alawa
Type Designation Suburb
Place Id 2003
Place Type Administrative Area
Status Registered
Date Registered 4 April 1984
Location (Datum GDA94)  
Latitude: -12° 22' S (Decimal degrees -12.3798)
Longitude: 130° 52' E (Decimal degrees 130.8732)
Locality / Suburb  
  (None Found)
Lot/Portion  
  Town of Nightcliff
Local Government Area  
  Darwin City Council
History/Origin One of Darwin's northern suburbs constructed in the late 1960's, named after the Alawa tribal group of Aboriginal people in the upper reaches of the Hodgson river and west to Roper valley area.

Tindale in "Aboriginal Tribes of Australia" (1974) records the alternate spellings for the tribal group as Alaua, Allawa, Allaua, Allua, Allowa.

The street names in Alawa commemorate the residents and workers, at the old Post Office, who were killed in the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in 1942, and the boats and people associated with the early settlement of Palmerston (Port Darwin).

The suburb boundary, as approved on 8 March 2007, is deliniated on CP 5076.

Register & Gazettal information

Date Gazettal Comment
04/04/1984 NTG13
03/04/2007 Revocation of NTG13 04/04/1984 gazettal and naming with new boundaries
04/04/2007 NTG14 Notice of naming

The Northern Territory Gazetteer is maintained by the Place Names Section,
Department of Lands, Planning and Environment.
GPO Box 1680, Darwin NT 0801. Ph 08 8995 5333.
place.names@nt.gov.au

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