Echoes of Wartime Darwin

Explore Darwin’s WWII History at Your Own Pace

The Echoes of Wartime Darwin Audio Tour gives you the freedom to discover one of Australia’s most remarkable wartime stories at your own pace.

There’s no group to keep up with and no guide rushing you to the next stop. Pause the audio, explore a site in more detail, visit a museum, stop for lunch, or spend extra time at the locations that interest you most. Each stop is worth visiting in its own right.

We recommend exploring the city section on foot from Stokes Hill Wharf to the USS Peary Memorial. From there, continue by vehicle to Myilly Point, the Botanic Gardens, Dudley Point, East Point and Ross Smith Avenue.

For anyone fascinated by World War II, the Pacific War, Australian military history, naval history, aviation or coastal defence, Darwin offers something special: the opportunity to stand where the history actually happened.

Look across the harbour attacked by 188 Japanese aircraft on 19 February 1942. Stand beside a gun recovered from the USS Peary, pointing towards the destroyer’s resting place. Discover wartime oil tunnels, anti-aircraft positions, submarine defences and the massive coastal gun emplacements constructed to defend Australia’s northern frontier.

Modern Darwin may feel relaxed and tropical, but traces of another Darwin remain all around you—a strategic wartime port attacked from the air and defended from land, sea and sky.

The evidence is still here. You simply need to know where to look.

Put on your headphones, follow the route and discover the stories behind Darwin’s extraordinary World War II history.

Make sure you have with you water, hat, and camera. Remember to Slip, slop and slap.

Enjoy