Introduction
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Town in the Northern Territory, AustraliaTown in Northern Territory, AustraliaHumpty DooTownThe Humpty Doo HotelHumpty DooLocation in the Darwin RegionInteractive map of Humpty DooCoordinates: 12°34′31″S 131°6′8″E / 12.57528°S 131.10222°E / -12.57528; 131.10222CountryAustraliaStateNorthern TerritoryLGALitchfield MunicipalityLocation
41.8 km (26.0 mi) from Darwin
21.9 km (13.6 mi) from Palmerston
Government • Territory electorateGoyder, Nelson • Federal divisionLingiariPopulation • Total4,380 (2016 census)Postcode0836
Localities around Humpty Doo
McMinns Lagoon
McMinns LagoonGirraweenHerbert
Herbert
McMinns LagoonBees Creek
Humpty Doo
Lambells Lagoon
Noonamah
NoonamahLloyds Creek Wak Wak
Wak Wak
Adjoining suburbs
Humpty Doo is a town in Australia's Northern Territory, situated just south of the Arnhem Highway, approximately 40 km from Darwin. At the 2016 census, Humpty Doo had a population of 4,313. Its local government area is Litchfield Municipality. The town is a popular stopping point for tourists travelling between Darwin and Kakadu National Park, and boasts many attractions of its own. The main industries are agriculture and tourism; however, most residents commute to Darwin or Palmerston for work, and many regard it as a dormitory town.
Origin of the name
[edit]
The name of the town has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.
It first appeared in 1910 as Umpity Doo, and is of uncertain origin. The following derivations have been suggested:
from the army slang term "umpty", used for the dash when reading Morse code
from a colloquialism meaning "everything done wrong or upside down"
from Umdidu, or Umdudu, an Aboriginal name supposedly meaning "popular resting place"
History
[edit]
The Djerimanga (also known as Wulna) people are recognised as the traditional owners and first inhabitants of an area, from the present day site of Humpty Doo east into the Adelaide River wetlands. Their way of life remained unchanged until the first contact with European explorers in the 19th century, most likely during the 1864 expedition to explore the areas surrounding the Adelaide River, led by Boyle Travers Finniss.[citation needed]
In September 1869, Surveyor General of South Australia, George Goyder, completed work to divide the hinterland surrounding the present day Litchfield Shire into 10-square-mile (26 km2) parcels. These parcels were subsequently divided into smaller allotments, and made available to settlers as pastoral leases and freehold titles.
Following the discovery of gold near Pine Creek during the 1880s, the subsequent influx of Chinese miners to the Northern Territory led to a high demand for food crops such as rice. Rice planted on the floodplains near Humpty Doo was used to meet this demand, with some success. Experiments with other tropical crops, including sugar cane, coffee and rubber, were attempted, most of these planted in the vicinity of Beatrice Hill to the east of the present day town.[citation needed] Experiments were made with livestock too and it was hoped that the banks of the Adelaide River could be developed to include loading facilities for live cattle export.[citation needed]
By 1887, plantations on the floodplains had been abandoned due to the financial difficulties of the land owners. Despite this, rubber trees and coffee bushes showed particular potential. A single harvest of 10 tons of coffee beans was exported to Melbourne during the short lived experiment.
In 1910, the name "Umpity Doo" first appeared, to describe buildings and improvements on a survey plan of Agricultural Lease No. 28, held by Oscar Herbert. Herbert died in 1974 at nearby Koolpinyah Station.
In 1954, after some experimentation by CSIRO and based on previous successful rice crops, a joint Australia-U.S. company called Territory Rice Ltd. was formed and established the Humpty Doo Rice Project, with a plan to irrigate the sub-coastal plain of the Adelaide River in order to commercially produce rice. The rice project was 20 km east of the present town, on part of the Humpty Doo Station where the name "Humpty Doo" was first used. The plan was a complete failure due to several factors: an invasion of geese, soil that was too saline, and an insufficient amount of drainage, all combined with poor management. The company gave up the land to the government in 1962. The irrigation dam, called Fogg Dam, still exists and is a good site for bird watching.
Local resident, Neville Skewes, opened a small store on Mount Bundey Road (now the Arnhem Highway) in 1967. At this time, there was very little development, with most of the surrounding area being bushland. On 11 September 1971, after being granted a liquor licence, Skewes and his wife Helen opened the Humpty Doo Hotel-Motel. The opening of the Hotel coincided with further improvements to the road east to Kakadu and Arnhem Land, and encouraged further urbanisation of the area around Humpty Doo.
In 1982, the Royal Australian Navy opened the Humpty Doo Transmitting Station. This replaced a facility at Coonawarra East that was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy in December 1974. The station supports the naval base HMAS Coonawarra, located in Darwin.
On 21 July 2007, the town played host to the first of the "Triple J goes AWOL" concerts, sponsored and organised by the national youth radio station Triple J.
