Top End Heritage Park

TOP END HERITAGE PARK
East Point
A Stronghold for Tourism, Education, Training & Community Identity.

The Pre-fabrication of Australian History began centuries ago with the Macassan trepang fishermen from Sulawesi bringing pre-fab bamboo and woven cane panels for their shelters, awnings and smokehouses. The Dutch pre-fabricated the ship 'Wessel' which accompanied the Klein Amsterdam on the ill-fated voyage of Gerrit Pool in 1636 for which the Wessel Islands are named. The British pre-fabs at Fort Dundas in 1824 went to Fort Wellington & in 1829 went to Albany WA. The practice continued at Fort Victoria and Escape Cliffs huts which with other stray kit & a basket of fruit came to Port Darwin in 1869.

Rebuild It & They Will Come

Nothing to see in Darwin? - Now we can reconstruct these nationally important structures through the discovery of detailed scale drawings plus first-hand accounts, sketches, paintings and photographs. Archaeological Reconstruction is a proven method of gaining insights, engaging with the community and developing tourism. It is done successfully around the world and East Point is the ideal location to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Fort Dundas - the 1st free settlement in Australia - even the convicts were volunteers & more than a quarter of them were "Men of Colour".

Fort Ross

Resources & Opportunities

Fort Dundas - Melville Island - 1824/29

The two houses in the fort below were pre-fabricated in Sydney - relocated to Fort Wellington and in 1829 relocated to the new Swan River colony along with the hospital and all the other movable buildings. 1824 was the year that the British Admiralty recognised the naming of the newly discovered continent 'Australia'. Prior to this Australia did not exist - ergo Fort Dundas was the first settlement in Australia - it's where penal colonies ended and Australia began. The bicentenary is 5 years away.

1824 Tiwi grave Bathurst Is. JS Roe sketchbook

Fort Dundas 1824 by JS Roe - he would become 1st Surveyor General of WA

Fort Wellington - Raffles Bay - 1827/29

Fort Victoria - Port Essington - 1839/48

Victoria Settlement, Port Essington 1839 - Mitchell Library

Victoria Square, Port Essington 1839. Lithograph from Voyage au Pôle Sud et en Océanie by Jules Dumont d'Urville

Victoria Square Port Essington by HS Melville. The Storehouse at right was a 2 storey building as shown by Owen Stanley.

nla obj-148363905 detail Port Essington Hospital

SLNSW f.119 Fortress Port Essington Owen Stanley

NLA Victoria Settlement - McArthur 1839

The burial ground, Port Essington, c1848 John McArthur. George Lambrick at tomb of wife Emma & 2 children. Oldest grave of white woman in Nth Australia