Driver, Northern Territory

Driver
Darwin, Northern Territory
Population 2,952 (2006)[1]
 • Density 1,716/km2 (4,445/sq mi)
Established 1990's
Postcode(s) 0830
Area 1.72 km2 (0.7 sq mi)
Location
LGA(s) City of Palmerston
Territory electorate(s) Drysdale
Federal Division(s) Solomon
Suburbs around Driver:
Elrundle Durack Palmerston City
Marlow Lagoon Driver Gray
Marlow Lagoon Moulden Woodroffe

Driver is an inner-city suburb of Palmerston. It is 23 km SE of the Darwin CBD. Its Local Government Area is the City of Palmerston. Durack is bounded to the north by University Ave, to the west Elrundie Avenue, to the east Temple Terrace and to the south Tilston Avenue. The suburb is mostly composed of developments from the early 1980s.

History

Driver was named after Mr Arthur Robert Driver, an engineer who came from Western Australia and was appointed by the Federal Australian Labor Party Government as Administrator in 1946. The highlights of his five-year term include the rescue in 1947 of Bas Wie upon his stowaway arrival in Darwin from Indonesia and his term as the first President of the Legislative Council which begun in 1948. By this time Driver had embarked on the decentralisation process of establishing Elliott as the focal point between Darwin and Alice Springs in the centre of the Territory.[2]

Driver was succeeded in 1951 by another Western Australian, Mr F J S Wise. Driver died in May 1981.

Fry Court in Driver was named after Mr Charles Fry, a teamster who arrived with George Goyder's survey expedition in 1869 to found the colony of Port Darwin. His wife and family arrived with the first European women in January 1870. Fry drowned off the north Queensland coast when the SS Gothenburg sank in February 1875, after striking a section of the Great Barrier Reef in cyclonic conditions.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Driver (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
  2. ↑ NT Government (2007). The Origin of Suburbs, Localities, Towns and Hundreds in the Greater Darwin area: Driver. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
  3. ↑ NT Government (2008). NT Place Names Register: Fry Court. Retrieved 6 February 2008.

External links

Coordinates: 12°29′06″S 130°58′23″E / 12.485085°S 130.973005°E / -12.485085; 130.973005

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