Palmerston, Northern Territory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Palmerston is an Australian city. It is a satellite city of the Northern Territory capital Darwin. Originally, Palmerston was the name given in 1855 to Darwin itself. Darwin assumed its current name in 1911. The population of the town is approximately 25,000 people. It is situated in the local government area of the city of Palmerston.
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[edit] Geography and climate
Palmerston is situated between the outer industrial areas of Darwin and the rural areas of Howard Springs.
Palmerston has a tropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The dry season runs from May to September. In the coolest months of June and July, daily temperature range is 19 to 30°C. The Wet season is associated with tropical cyclones and monsoon rains. The majority of rainfall occurs between December and March when thunderstorms are common and humidity is regularly over 70 per cent.
[edit] History
The land for modern Palmerston was acquired in 1971 by the Australian federal government after concerns of under-supply of residential land in Darwin. Palmerston is approximately a 15 minute drive away from Darwin's CBD, 15-18 minutes from Darwin's Northern suburbs and 10 - 20 minutes from Howard Springs and the rural area.
[edit] Landmarks
The major land-mark in Palmerston is the Power and Water Corporation's water storage tank, which supplies the city with fresh potable water.
The City also has a natural escarpment on its eastern side, which has extensive walking paths.
[edit] Media
A local free tabloid news paper called the Palmerston Sun is published weekly by News Limited. The Northern Territory News tabloid published daily by News Corporation is also widely available in Palmerston. Most large state-wide and interstate newspapers are also available from local retailers, albeit with a delay in arrival.
Radio and television services are sourced from transmitters located in the Darwin region. Pay TV is also available through both satellite and fixed cable from the encumbant provider, Austar.
[edit] Sport and recreation
The city has a "skate park" located on University Avenue that is funded by the Palmerston City Council. This park allows locals to perform Skateboarding as well as other related sports, including Inline Skating. There is a local near-Olympic size swimming pool with a gymnasium.
There is also a boat ramp allowing access to the Elizabeth River for small trailable marine craft. Persons utilising the area are cautioned that both Box jellyfish and crocodiles are present in the river.
A branch of the YWCA is located at the CBD.
The Palmerston Scouts are located on University Avenue, adjacent to the Palmerston branch of the RSL.
The Archer Sporting Complex has an Australian rules football (AFL) field, a senior Softball diamond and senior Baseball diamond. There are also a number of sporting clubs located at the Archer Sporting Complex.
Palmerston is well served by its many park reserves. Some parks also offer coin-operated public barbecue facilities.
[edit] Transport
The city has a network of approximately 32 km of bicycle paths, most of which are lit for night-time usage.
There is also a public bus service that offers transportation around Palmerston, into Darwin City and out to Darwin's Northern Suburbs.
The Darwin City Airport is the closest air terminal, being serviced by both Qantas and Virgin Blue, with daily flights to and from all Australian capital cities. The airport is located in the Darwin suburb of Marrara, approximately 20 minutes away from Palmerston.
Darwin based taxis are also available in Palmerston, as well as a number of local and Darwin based mini-bus operators.
[edit] University
The Charles Darwin University Palmerston campus is located in the suburb of Durack, surrounded by bushland. The campus hosts the School of Tourism and Hospitality as well as expanding into a mini-School of Conservation and Land Management.
[edit] Regions and suburbs
The City of Palmerston initially consisted of the Palmerston Town (CBD), Driver and Gray. These were followed by Moulden and Woodroffe after development in those areas commenced in 1983. Also included in the City of Palmerston are the semi-rural suburb of Marlow Lagoon, the suburb of Archer and the industrial zones of Yarrawonga and Pinelands. Due to the explosive growth of Palmerston further developments have occurred leading to the creation of the suburbs of Rosebery, Bakewell, Gunn, Durack and more recently Farrar.
The suburbs of Durack and Gunn also have colloquial names as assigned to them by the developers of the area, being "Fairway Waters" (due to the man-made lakes and golf course) and "The Chase" respectively.
Future areas of land for expansion are the proposed suburbs of Johnson, Zuccoli and Mitchell and are located on the south-east side of the existing city. These plots of expansion are expected to allow an increase of up to 14,000 additional residents in the city of Palmerston.
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