ABSTRACT
Charles Darwin's lack of a discernible essence, the key features that might best express the town's vernacular character to outsiders, is partly a function of geography. The Northern Territory was once owned, disastrously and viciously, by the South Australian government, which acquired Darwin in 1863, seeking an inexpensive penetration from the south. Between World War II and self-government in 1978, Darwin remained under the direct administration of the federal government in Canberra, which accommodated its sojourning public servants in government-funded housing. Unusually at the time, given the history of externally imposed policy debacles, federal housing designs at least gestured to the climactic peculiarities of a town squatting in a monsoonal delta. The 'Marine Rotational Force – Darwin' (MRF-D) is one of four American marine air ground task forces (MAGTFs) in the Asia-Pacific region.
