The Northern Territory, Australia.

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY Situated in the centre of Australia, the Northern Territory is the third largest state in Australia and is roughly the size of France, Spain and Italy combined (figures 1 and 2). It has a unique environment that ranges from arid desert down south to tropical regions on the coast in the north. The Northern Territory is often considered the quintessential Australian outback and boasts many stunning sites such as Kakadu (figure 3), Litchfield National Park, Katherine Gorge (figure 4) and the world famous Uluru (previously known as Ayers Rock). The year is divided into two seasons, wet and dry, with high temperatures, high humidity and monsoonal rain dominating the wet season. Darwin, the capital city, is the most northern Australian capital and is the main city in the territory. The first documented arrival of Indigenous people to Australia and the Northern Territory through land bridges from south-east Asia dates back to roughly 50 000 years ago. European settlement arrived in 1770 and to the Northern Territory in the early 1800s. It is a sparsely populated region, with a population of 211 945. Most live in the ‘Top End’ (165,517), the northern region of the Northern Territory, of whom 120 586 reside in Darwin. Twenty eight per cent of the population are indigenous, compared with 2.5% nationally. There is a large socioeconomic disparity between the Northern Territory and the rest of the country. Health outcomes are also considerably poorer in indigenous patients compared with non-indigenous patients.