DARWIN, Diocese of. - It comprises the whole of the Northern Territory, which is largely desert and is inhabited by many of the aborigines remaining in all of Australia.
It was formerly called the diocese of Victoria or Port Victoria, erected on 27 May 1847 with territory detached 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 bishop, the Benedictine Msgr. Salvado, never took possession of the see because the city of Victoria, before his arrival, had been evacuated by the Europeans on account of malaria. In 1882 the German Jesuits opened the mission for the aborigines. After Msgr. Salvado, who remained at New Norcia, resigned, his vicar general, the Jesuit Father Steele, was appointed interim administrator of the diocese, to which on 10 Aug. 1888 the name of Palmerston was also added, from 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 certain islands were assigned to it. Its territory is about 1,000,000 sq. km. and it has a population of about 50,000 inhabitants, of whom 1600 are indigenous Catholics and 1500 foreign and 900 of mixed race. The Protestants number 5000, the pagans 40,000. There are 12 Australian fathers, 8 brothers, and 36 sisters who work in 8 districts, 4 parishes, 6 primary stations and 4 secondary ones. In the 8 elementary schools
700 pupils are educated. Works of charity and of Catholic Action are not lacking.
During the war it suffered damage because of the forced removal of the population.