Humpty Doo
Humpty Doo is a town in Australia's Northern Territory, situated just south of the Arnhem Highway, approximately 40 km from Darwin. At the , Humpty Doo had a population of 4,313 people. Its local government area is Litchfield Municipality. The town is a popular stopping point for tourists travelling between Darwin and Kakadu National Park, and boasts many attractions of its own. The main industries are agriculture and tourism; however, most residents commute to Darwin or Palmerston for work, and many regard it as a dormitory town. Origin of the name The name of the town has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names. The locality of Humpty Doo is named after the station originally called "Umpity Doo"; however, origins of the name are uncertain. The following derivations have been suggested: from "the Army slang term "umpty" used in 1917 for the dash when reading Morse code" (however, the station name was in use in 1910) from a colloquialism to describe "everything done wrong or upside down" the place was known as "Umdidu", an English language corruption of an Aboriginal term which meant a popular resting place from the translation of aboriginal English that described the area as being the location of "humpy two", as in, two humpies History The Djerimanga (also known as Woolner) people are recognised as the traditional owners and first inhabitants of an area, from the present day site of Humpty Doo east into the Adelaide River wetlands. Their way of life remained unchanged until the first contact with European explorers in the 19th century, most likely during the 1864 expedition to explore the areas surrounding the Adelaide River, led by Boyle Travers Finniss. In September 1869, Surveyor General of South Australia, George Goyder, completed work to divide the hinterland surrounding the present day Litchfield Shire into parcels. These parcels were subsequently divided into smaller allotments, and made available to settlers as pastoral leases and freehold titles. Following the discovery of gold near Pine Creek during the 1880s, the subsequent influx of Chinese miners to the Northern Territory led to a high demand for food crops such as rice. Rice planted on the floodplains near Humpty Doo was used to meet this demand, with some success. Experiments with other tropical crops, including sugar cane, coffee and rubber, were attempted, most of these planted in the vicinity of Beatrice Hill to the east of the present day town. Experiments were made with livestock too and it was hoped that the banks of the Adelaide River could be developed to include loading facilities for live cattle export. By 1887, plantations on the floodplains had been abandoned due to the financial difficulties of the land owners. Despite this, rubber trees and coffee bushes showed particular potential. A single harvest of 10 tons of coffee beans was exported to Melbourne during the short lived experiment. In 1910, the name "Umpity Doo" first appeared, to describe buildings and improvements on a survey plan of Agricultural Lease No. 28, held