Place Names Register Extract

Southport

Extract date: 21/05/2024

Name Southport
Type Designation Town
Place Id 21673
Place Type Feature
Status Historical
Date Registered
Location (Datum GDA94)  
Latitude: -12° 43' S (Decimal degrees -12.722364)
Longitude: 130° 56' E (Decimal degrees 130.949411)
Locality / Suburb  
  Southport
Local Government Area  
  Litchfield Council
History/Origin Southport was established in 1870 at the junction of the Darwin and Blackmore Rivers to service the hinterland of the greater Darwin area.

Southport is so named as it was the southern port on Port darwin.

During the 1870s Pine Creek gold rush Southport was the largest populated place in the Northern Territory, far larger than Palmerston (now Darwin).

With the construction of the railway in the 1880s, Southport declined and it was not until the 1970s that people came back to live on the town blocks surveyed in 1869.

Register & Gazettal information

Date Gazettal Comment
  (None Found)  

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

© Northern Territory of Australia
The Northern Territory of Australia does not warrant that the information in this extract or any part of it is correct or complete and will not be liable for any loss damage or injury suffered by any person as a result of its inaccuracy or incompleteness. You are encouraged to notify any error or omission in the material by calling the Place Names Section.