Christ Church Cathedral
Fully sixty ladies and gentlemen, and a goodly number of smaller fry, assembled on the allotment in Smith Street... to witness the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the first Church of England in the Northern Territory (Northern Territory Times and Gazette 12 July 1902).
Darwin's Anglican community used the Court House opposite here for Sunday services until a small stone church was constructed as a chapel for a larger cathedral. The new Church of England we a bait of the Carpentaria Diocese covering much of the Northern Territory.
In 1902 this end of Smith Street was a collection of a the new church was constructed. It was built of locall and was completed in just three months. The first st
res of Darwin's Chinatown, and into this melting pot in tollowing the acceptance of his tender for £435 dithe church consecrated on 2 November 1902.
Electric lighting was installed in 1923 for £20 and T memory of her husband. She later donated a lecter we
a build a tennis court in the church grounds in
With the threat of war in the Pacific, civilians were evac the Darwin Fortress, or Garrison, Church. The church reuor The move was timely as the 19 February 1942 Japanese raid oi blown out. Shortly afterwards the building was looted.
carly 1942 the military took over the church as Es were also removed to Alice Springs for safe keeping. he church buildings damaged by shrapnel and windows
In early 1944 plans for a memorial fence and gates and landscaping Were prepared by Lieutenant A. Gardner of the army's 6 Australian Camouflage Unit. The gate and fence, and a porch to the church were completed using local stone. They were dedicated by the NT Force and Royal Australian Navy to those who died on active service in the Northern Territory. By the 1960s, however, the stone was crumbling and in 1965 the work was replaced by the Returned Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia (the RSL).
Cyclone Tracy roared through Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974 destroying all but the porch and gateway. A new cathedral was constructed around the historic porch in 1976, winning the 1978 Tracy Memorial Award for its architects.