Frogmouth Hill Wharf

Okay, it's not really called that. It's called Stokes Hill Wharf. I just have a few quibbles with the name.

Anyway. Follow the road down Stokes Hill and around the Waterfront, and you will come to Stokes Hill Wharf. A seawall separates the Waterfront from the Wharf.

The seawall is also a pedestrian walkway. I like to cycle along the walkway — it's scenic, shady and flat. In this view, that's Stokes Hill Wharf on the right and the Waterfront on the left. Our current apartment is in the nearest building on the left.

This view is from the other end of the seawall, from the Convention Centre.

And just to complete the panoramic views, here's the Waterfront from the middle-ish of the seawall ...

... and Stokes Hill Wharf from the middle-ish of the seawall.

Stokes Hill Wharf was the main wharf for the city of Darwin until about 2000 when Darwin Port at East Arm was built (and leased to a Chinese-based company, but that's another story). I like SHW because it's a blend between a tourist destination and a genuine working wharf. A popular spot for recreational fishing, there's also a decent restaurant, a food court, lots of outdoor tables and chairs (and seagulls) ...

... and a tourist facility focused on both the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the bombing of Darwin.

Pay your $25 and you can experience a range of holograms and virtual reality experiences. It's interesting to (a) find oneself on the wharf, at sea and in the air in 1942 while the area was being bombed and then (b) fly on a modern RFDS plane while a patient is going into cardiac arrest, with the red dust of central Australia outside the window. But virtual reality is a very isolated experience. I've been to the RFDS tourist centre in Alice Springs as well. It has historical artefacts, guided tours and an excellent courtyard café. A more share-able tourist experience, in other words.

Stokes Hill Wharf is also a tourist centre for activities like sunset cruises and jetskis. I'm a big fan of the former; the latter, not so much.

As to my quibble with the name, Stokes Hill was named in 1839 after Captain Pringle Stokes, the first commander of HMS Beagle. Now, bear with me.

• Pringle Stokes commanded the Beagle's first voyage. He shot himself in a fit of depression in southern Chile. He didn't get anywhere near Australia.

• The Beagle's second voyage is far more well known, thanks to its passenger Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin did not get anywhere near Darwin, either.

• All this naming of places was done on the Beagle's third voyage by Captain John Lort Stokes. Darwin was named after Charles Darwin. No mystery there.

• John Lort named Stokes Hill for the Beagle's first commander, ol' Pringle. No relation to himself, apparently. But since JL's own surname was Stokes, how can anyone be sure that he didn't name the hill after himself?

• And even if it was honorific and not egocentric, why did it need to be named after some British sailor who had never even set foot in the area?

I have a much better idea. The Larrakia people, who have been living in this area for thousands of years, believe that a spiritual ancestor known as Chinute Chinute lives inside the hill. Chinute Chinute appears occasionally as a tawny frogmouth. Today the hill is a registered Aboriginal sacred site, and some areas are protected from development. So wouldn't Frogmouth Hill be a far more interesting and authentic name than Stokes Hill?

I haven't spotted any tawny frogmouths in Darwin yet (not surprising as they're nocturnal) but I did enjoy this little black cormorant landing in front of me on the wharf and stretching its wings to dry. That's its name, incidentally — Little Black Cormorant — I'm not just describing how the bird looks.

Now to spot that tawny frogmouth.