Howard Springs is a locality in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
.
It is located SE of the
Darwin CBD in the
local government area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...
of
Litchfield Municipality
The Litchfield Council is a local government area of the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of ...
. The suburb is mostly a rural area, but has been experiencing strong growth in population and development.
Early history
European settlement of the area began in 1864. The stream which commenced with a spring was named for Frederick Howard in 1865 by the
survey party of
B. T. Finniss.
Howard was the captain of a schooner and a hydrographer.
Although first examined in 1921,
Howard Springs in 1939 became the first major water supply area to service Darwin, at one time also known as Worgan Springs.
Discharge was calculated to be every twenty-four hours.
Later
Manton Dam
Manton Dam is a small concrete arch dam on the Manton River, approximately south of Darwin, Northern Territory in Australia. The dam was originally constructed by the Department of Defence (Australia), Department of Defence during World War II t ...
supplied water to Darwin with the onset of
World War 2
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...
, but now most of Darwin's water supply comes from Darwin River Dam.
Uranium
Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
was located in the area in November 1952, but not in a workable form.
The suburb is mostly a rural area, but has been experiencing strong growth in population and development. A primary school was established in 1974.
An accommodation facility named Manigurr-ma Village was built at Howard Springs in 2012 by Japanese energy company
Inpex to accommodate up to 3500 temporary
fly-in fly-out
Fly-in fly-out is a method of employing people in remote areas by flying them temporarily to the work site instead of relocating employees and their families permanently. It is often abbreviated to FIFO when referring to employment status. This i ...
construction workers on the
Ichthys LNG gas plant. The facility was closed and abandoned in 2018.
COVID-19 quarantine facility
From early 2020, the abandoned accommodation site became a quarantine facility for people returning to Australia from areas infected with
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
, initially on 9 February 2020 from
Wuhan
Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...
. The quarantine facility was run by the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT). From later in 2020, the facility was a quarantine facility for people arriving from Victoria during the second lockdown in that state.
From mid-October 2020 the quarantine facility was referred to as the Centre for National Resilience, in anticipation of an agreement between the Northern Territory and Federal Governments in October 2020 for use of the camp for that purpose. From late October 2020, the quarantine facility was used for repatriating Australians from Europe and India. From May 2021, the Northern Territory Government began to gradually take over all operations from AUSMAT.
Following the recommendations of a national review of hotel quarantine for a national quarantine centre, the commissioning of Howard Springs prompted demands for other quarantine facilities, which based on the Howard Springs model were approved to proceed for construction at Mickleham, Victoria in June, 2021; at Jandakot, Western Australia in August 2021, at Pinkinba, Brisbane, Queensland in mid-August 2021 and a separate state government built Queensland facility at Toowoomba in late August. Howard Springs and the first three of these run under Federal Government auspices (though operated by the relevant state or territory government) are all modelled on the Howard Springs camp and use the Centre for National Resilience name, on the basis of the Howard Springs camp's success in avoiding COVID-19 leaks.
References
External links
Place Names Committee
{{Litchfield Municipality Suburbs and Towns
Suburbs of Darwin, Northern Territory
Quarantine facilities in Australia