Casuarina



The small suburb of Casuarina takes in a large shopping and business area and the adjoining emergency service facilities/ buildings. It is home to the largest shopping centre in the Northern Territory - Casuarina Square. Casuarina derives its suburban name from the casuarina trees that grow along the nearby Casuarina Beach. Casuarina was the name used in the early 1960s for the proposed main business area in the northern suburbs.

Casuarina derives its suburban name from the casuarina trees that grow along the nearby Casuarina Beach. Casuarina was the name used in the early 1960s for the proposed main business area in the northern suburbs.

Casuarina is a base for one of three interchanges for the Darwin bus service which is located at Casuarina Square, just below Woolworths. From here, travellers can ride buses directly to the Darwin or Palmerston interchanges, or on circuits which service the surrounding suburbs before returning to the Casuarina interchange.



Casuarina Square has around 165 specialty shops, including Coles, K-Mart, Big W, and Woolworths. The eatery is a popular place on a hot day as people take advantage of the air conditioning and high quality restaurants and cafes. The Casuarina Post Office and Cinema are inside the complex, however the banks are located in separate buildings nearby.



Rapid Creek Markets is Darwin's oldest Market. It operates on Friday evenings 3 pm till late and Sunday mornings beginning at 6.30 am running untill 1 pm. Held throughout the carpark and arcades of Rapid Creek Business Village, the market is known for its fresh Organic Produce, Asian Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs, Spices, Exotic Plants, Flowers, Seafood as well as local handmade crafts.


Dripstone Beach

Casaurina Beach is located 7km east of the city of Darwin. Backed by the Casuarina Coastal Reserve, it is an extremely wide ribbon of clean sand, particularly in the east. Casuarina Beach is home to the Darwin Surf Lifesaving Club. The club is located toward the southern end of the beach and is surrounded by the grassy reserve. A 7km stretch of the beach is officially designated as a nudist beach. The beach commences at Dipstone Park at the suburb of Brinkin. Here the beach is backed by the colourful Dripstone Cliffs.


Casuarina Coastal Reserve, Lee Point

Casuarina Coastal Reserve protects a large coastal area to the north of Dripstone Cliffs. The reserve is popular for its white sandy beaches, shady picnic areas, cycle paths and wildlife. World War II artillery observation posts are a reminder of the area's wartime involvement.

Located between the mouth of Rapid Creek and Buffalo Creek, the 1500-hectare reserve includes 8 kilometres of sandy beaches fringed by Casuarina trees and dramatic sandstone cliffs. Behind the beaches and dunes are mangroves, monsoon vine thickets and paperbark forests. Barbecues, tables and shade make the area a popular picnic spot. Enjoy a stroll on the beach or along the track to Sandfly Creek. Birdwatchers come to see ospreys, kites, red-tailed black-cockatoos, cormorants and gulls along the dunes or soaring overhead. Check the signage to see if it is safe to swim (dry season only).


Dripstone cliffs

The beach at Lee Point is part of the reserve, with vehicle access to the Buffalo Creek boat ramp and car park at the eastern end. The beach extends southeast of Lee Point for 1.5 km.


Dripstone Caves

Rapid Creek separates the suburb of Rapid Creek from the Dripstone Caves, with a 100 m long footbridge across the creek linking the two. Between the creek and the caves is a 1.2 km long northwest-facing beach. The beach has a continuous high tide beach, fronted at the western end by the 1.5 km wide creek tidal shoals, which narrow to 1 km in the east. The Dripstone caves are located at the base of 10 metre high weathered sandstone bluffs which form the eastern boundary of the beach. They are not very deep but can be entered easily. Dripstone Caves were named on G W Goyder's early plans of Port Darwin in 1869.


RAAF World War II No 31 Radar Station at Dripstone Caves

Darwin's air-warning radar unit at Casuarina - Australia's first - was developed by a team of 'backroom boffins' led by Dr. J.H. Piddington, a civilian and a scientist in the Radiophysics Laboratory of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), based at Sydney University. RAAF technicians who installed the radar at Dripstone Caves days before the raid were still fiddling with the set when the first waves of Japanese bombers roared in. The RAAF experts, hurriedly trained at Richmond (NSW) had no manuals to guide them and were unable to grasp the intricacies of operating the set. Piddington's team - the men who could work the radar - were in Sydney, unaware that the set was in Darwin. Under a veil of secrecy RAAF chiefs made no effort to fly the scientists there to get the set functioning.

The last Dakota-load of radar equipment, including the all-important aerial, arrived in Darwin two days after the bombing. About a week later the radar was complete, but its performance was poor and Dr. Piddington was immediately called to Darwin to get it working. While he was getting there the RAAF technicians located the fault - a defective aerial feeder cable - and had the station working fairly well by the time he arrived.


The steps onto Casuarina Beach from the site of the RAAF WWII No 31 Radar Station