Some forests with vegetation common to the Southeast Asian peninsula and archipelago exist in Arnhem Land, but otherwise the northern vegetation is open woodland with low eucalypts and tall grasses of low nutritive value for livestock. In the main cattle areas of the Victoria River Downs and the Barkly Tableland, an open-tussock grassland on heavy, gray-brown cracking soils is dominated by Mitchell grass (a perennial Astrebla species) with subdominant Flinders grass (species of Iseilema) and herbs. In the valleys an association of mulga (an acacia tree) with short grasses is a valuable fodder resource. Mixed mulga-spinifex scrub occupies the red plains of the desert nearby, and farther to the west is a desert of hummock grassland composed of widely spaced clumps of spinifex and Triodia. A broad-leaved species of mulga, the witchety bush, harbours a grub much sought by Aboriginal peoples as food.

The Northern Territory is home to roughly 400 species of birds including various parrots, cockatoos, pigeons, and lorikeets in the rugged central and northern regions; pied imperial pigeons in the rainforests; and singing bush larks, button quail, and flock bronzewings (a type of large pigeon) in the Barkly Tableland. Wading shorebirds and geese are plentiful in the northern wetlands. Some birds, especially coastal species and certain pigeons, are migratory, spending only part of the year in the territory. Among the species endemic to the Northern Territory are the white-throated grass-wren (Amytornis woodwardi), the banded fruit dove (Ptilinopus cinctus), and the chestnut-quilled rock pigeon (Petrophassa rufipennis).

Some 150 species of mammals live in the territory, including several species of rock rats (especially in Arnhem Land), many bats, nearly two dozen marine mammals, and a variety of marsupials. Kangaroos are widely distributed, but some species have restricted habitats: red kangaroos are adapted to the arid regions, rock wallabies and antilopine wallaroos inhabit the rocky ridges of the northwest, and black wallaroos are restricted to the sandstone escarpments of Arnhem Land. The echidna, an unusual egg-laying mammal, also lives in the Northern Territory, as do the dugong and Irrawaddy dolphin, which are marine mammals. Black wallaroos, along with several species of rock rats, mice, and bats, are endemic to the territory. Formerly domestic animals now existing as large wild populations include camels, water buffalo, cattle, pigs, goats, ponies, horses, and donkeys.

Skinks are the most abundant of the territory’s reptiles and are represented by more than 100 species. Saltwater and freshwater crocodiles are also native to the region, as are marine turtles and nearly 100 varieties of snake, more than one-fifth of which are marine species. The most notable frogs include the ubiquitous green tree frog (Litoria caerulea) and the magnificent tree frog (L. splendida). Other frogs, in the southern part of the territory, emerge only after heavy rain. Among the territory’s fish, the barramundi is the best known.

Population composition

Aboriginal people have lived continuously in the Northern Territory for at least 40,000 years, having migrated from adjacent parts of Southeast Asia. It is estimated (roughly) that between 35,000 and 70,000 of these indigenous people were resident in the territory when the British began to establish military settlements in the early 19th century. Although no accurate counts of the Aboriginal population exist prior to the mid-20th century, the number of indigenous people is believed to have dropped between the arrival of the Europeans and the end of World War II, primarily as a result of disease, despair, and general neglect by the administration. After World War II, however, the indigenous population grew steadily, and by the early 21st century Aborigines constituted more than one-fourth of the territory’s total population.

Formerly resident in foraging areas throughout the territory, most Aboriginal people have been resettled as a consequence of government policies. More than one-fourth live in urban areas, generally in suburban housing but also in Aboriginal living areas or town camps. Many also live in rural towns established by missionaries and government officials as part of the now-defunct policies of protection and assimilation. The remainder of the indigenous population live in small rural outstations located on traditional Aboriginal lands, where access to standard housing and services such as electricity is often limited.

Roughly half of the Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory speak an Aboriginal language, and dialects are numerous. Aboriginal languages are agglutinative; that is, they combine into single words two or more elements of distinct and separate meaning. The languages spoken in the northern part of the territory, however, are different in structure and vocabulary from those of the Aranda peoples in the south.

Between 1824 and 1849 the British made several abortive attempts to establish a trading settlement on the coast; attempts were also made by the South Australian administration between 1864 and 1867. The first successful settlement was at Port Darwin in 1869. When gold mining at nearby Pine Creek and associated railway construction created a labour shortage, Chinese workers were brought in from Singapore and Guangzhou (Canton). By 1888, when immigration restrictions were imposed, the Chinese population numbered about 7,000.

Subsequent immigration was mostly from Europe, but, as restrictions eased in the 1970s, more immigrants started coming from other areas, especially Southeast Asia. Since the late 20th century, the number of Southeast Asian immigrants (largely from the Philippines) has nearly equaled the combined total of newcomers from New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Numerous ethnic associations reflect the dozens of countries that have contributed to the territory’s heritage. The majority of the territory’s population, however, is Australian-born, having migrated there from other Australian states. Most of the non-Aboriginal people live in one of the few urban centres.

For much of the period prior to World War II, population growth rates were sluggish. In the second half of the 20th century the population increased rapidly, but the rate of increase was subject to considerable variation because of economic boom and bust and the effects of Cyclone Tracy in 1974, which destroyed most of Darwin. The population remained youthful in the early 21st century, with the highest birth rate in the country and nearly two-fifths of all residents under the age of 25. However, the territory’s death rate was also the highest and life expectancy the shortest, owing largely to a mortality rate among Aboriginal peoples that continued to register well above the national average—which, to some extent, was attributable to limited access to quality health care in rural regions.

Settlement patterns

Despite the large size of the territory, roughly two-thirds of the inhabitants live in and around Darwin and Alice Springs. Away from those centres, settlement is widely dispersed and focused on a handful of mining towns, Aboriginal towns, and rural service centres. Most of the land area is either uninhabited or very thinly populated, reflecting the predominance of pastoral and Aboriginal land use. Remote homesteads on large cattle stations form the base of the rural settlement pattern. Densities in pastoral areas have declined because of the amalgamation of properties and the mechanization of ranching. Since the granting of Aboriginal landrights in the 1970s, there has been an increasing dispersion of the population, as Aboriginal people have settled in small clan-based communities of fewer than 100 people, known as outstations.

The main urban centre, Darwin, is located on the northwestern monsoonal coast overlooking the Beagle Gulf. It serves as a focus for the Top End region. As the legislative capital and home to more than half the population, Darwin also performs many territorywide functions. Darwin had early pretensions as a port and trading settlement, but it has developed primarily as an administrative centre, with jobs in public administration and defense, utilities, and education, health, and community services accounting for nearly one-third of the city’s employment. The second largest town is Alice Springs, located in the arid MacDonnell Ranges in the southern part of the territory, close to the Tropic of Capricorn. It is the main service provider for the Centre region and is also a base for tourists visiting central Australia.