Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
MAGNT
A free-entry multi-disciplinary museum. Its three main highlights are the Cyclone Tracy gallery, Indigenous art and the famous crocodile specimen called Sweetheart.
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) is on the seafront at Fannie Bay, on the northern outskirts of Darwin. Admission is free. The most talked-about exhibit is the Cyclone Tracy gallery. On Christmas Eve 1974, Cyclone Tracy almost destroyed the whole city of Darwin. The gallery includes a pitch-dark room that plays the real recording of the howling winds from that night, giving visitors a sense of being there. It also documents the history of the rebuilding that followed. The museum's Indigenous art collection is very rich. It includes bark paintings, carvings and weavings from Arnhem Land. Every August, the museum hosts the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA). The natural history section displays Sweetheart, a giant saltwater crocodile specimen about 5 metres long. In the 1970s, this crocodile attacked fishing boat motors several times before it died during its capture. The museum also has galleries on Southeast Asian and Pacific cultures, marine archaeology and Northern Territory wildlife. It sits by the sea, so you can stop at nearby Fannie Bay to watch the sunset. Getting there: about 4 km from the city centre. Take a bus or ride a bike along the coastal cycle path.
Opening hours
~10:00–16:00
Nearby sights
- Mindil Beach Sunset Market
- George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens
- Parap Village Markets
- Fannie Bay Gaol
- Aquascene
- Crocosaurus Cove
- Bicentennial Park & The Esplanade
- WWII Oil Storage Tunnels