Who discovered the N.T Australia?

Answer 1

Aside from the Aborigines, the first non-indigenous people to "discover" Australia's Top End (or the Northern Territory) were the Macassans. Several hundred years before white settlement, the Macassans would come to the northern Australian coastline and seek out trepang, or sea slugs, which they would trade as a delicacy in the Asian markets. The first overland explorer to reach the Top End was Ludwig Leichhardt, who reached Port Essington, which itself was first settled by Europeans in 1824. It took Leichhardt 18 months to make the journey, during which he was believed to have died, and he reached Port Essington in December 1845. The Northern Territory did not become its own territory until 1911. From 1825 to 1863, the Northern Territory was part of New South Wales, and from 1863 to 1911 it was part of South Australia. This resulted from the successful 1862 expedition of John McDouall Stuart to find an overland route through the desert from Adelaide to the north. This route was subsequently utilised for the building of the Overland Telegraph line. On 1 January 1911, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.