Darwin, Diocese of. – It comprises the whole of Northern Territory, which is largely desert and inhabited by many of the remaining aborigines in all Australia.
Formerly it was called the Diocese of Victoria or Port Victoria, erected on 27 May 1847 with territory taken from the Archdiocese of Sydney, of which it remained a suffragan until 10 May 1887, when it was declared a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Adelaide.
The first Benedictine bishop, Mgr. Salvado, never took possession of the see because the city of Victoria had been evacuated by Europeans on account of malaria before his arrival. In 1882 the German Jesuits opened a mission for the aborigines. After the resignation of Mgr. Salvado, who remained at New Norcia, his vicar general, Fr. Steele, S.J., was appointed temporary administrator of the diocese, to which on 10 August 1888 the name of Palmerston was also added, after the name of the new capital. Following the withdrawal of the Jesuits, the diocese passed under the administration of the Bishop of Geraldton until 1906, when Propaganda entrusted the care of the aborigines to the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. On 29 March 1938 it received its present name and was assigned certain islands. Its territory covers about 1,000,000 sq. km. and has a population of about 50,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,600 are indigenous Catholics, 1,500 foreign Catholics, and 500 of mixed race. There are 5,000 Protestants and 40,000 pagans. There are 12 Australian priests, 8 brothers, and 36 sisters working in 8 districts, 4 parishes, 6 primary stations, and 4 secondary stations. In the 8 schools