Documenting Democracy
Australia's Story

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Painting by Northern Territory artist Heather Riley

This painting by Northern Territory artist Heather Riley commemorates the official transfer of the Northern Territory from South Australia to the Commonwealth on 1 January 1911. It shows Samuel Mitchell, the Acting Administrator, and David Bevan, first Judge of the new Territory Supreme Court, with Eliza Mitchell raising the Commonwealth flag. With the transfer, Palmerston was officially renamed Darwin.