What is Top End?

The Top End is the tropical northern region of the Northern Territory, stretching from Darwin south to Katherine and east to Arnhem Land. It covers roughly 245,000 square kilometres and has a population of about 200,000, the most densely populated part of the Northern Territory.

The Top End has a tropical monsoon climate, with two seasons rather than four: a wet season (the Wet) from November to April with monsoon rains, tropical thunderstorms, and cyclones, and a dry season (the Dry) from May to October with clear skies and lower humidity. Darwin, the capital, averages about 1,700 millimetres of rainfall a year, almost all between December and March. Local Aboriginal nations recognise more than two seasons; the Bininj seasonal calendar of Kakadu has six.

Major features of the Top End include Kakadu National Park (the largest terrestrial national park in Australia), Litchfield National Park (famous for its waterfalls and termite mounds), Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge, the Tiwi Islands, Arnhem Land (a vast Aboriginal-owned region accessed by permit), the Mary River wetlands, and the Cobourg Peninsula. The Top End also includes some of the most biologically rich tropical savannas in the world, with extensive paperbark wetlands, monsoon rainforests, mangrove estuaries, and sandstone stone country.

The Top End's economy combines defence (Darwin is a major Australian Defence Force base and hosts United States Marine rotations), mining, fisheries, agriculture (mangoes, melons, beef cattle), tourism, and the education and health sectors. Aboriginal communities make up a large share of the population in remote areas. The Yothu Yindi Foundation runs the annual Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land, the most significant Indigenous policy and cultural gathering in Australia.