Anchorage, Alaska Sister City

Initial moves for a sister city link began with former Darwin Mayor Dr Ella Stack in 1976 when she visited Anchorage. The Chief Minister at the time, Paul Everingham had also visited Anchorage and was supportive of a link. The keys to the link were based on similarities such as steps to statehood, the development of mining and the establishment of a university in a remote frontier territory accustomed to natural disasters and isolation.

The two cities while at opposite extremes of the climate scale, share many similarities, including; rugged terrain, passionately followed outdoor sports, globally acclaimed national parks, mining histories, strong indigenous cultures, Captain Cook, wilderness survival stories, military presence, World War II experiences, mosquitos and deadly wildlife.

Over the years collaborative programs have been successfully delivered narrowing the cultural divide, including; Rotary Student Exchanges, Darwin residents hosting visiting groups and a radio program which received air play in both cities.

The 'fellowship' between the two cities and various individuals has been maintained despite the geographical distances, with numerous visits between the two cities. In 1987 a small delegation of the Lord Mayor and Town Clerk visited Anchorage and the Parks Manager attended a parks conference. In 1990 the Anchorage Sister City Commission was represented at the ASCA Conference in Darwin by two delegates. A Darwin delegation of six visited Anchorage in 1992, and, in May 1993 an Anchorage delegation of eight people led by Mayor Tom Fink visited Darwin for a week attending business meetings and social functions. In August 1995 a Darwin City Council officer worked with the Anchorage Municipality for four weeks to gain an insight into local government in the USA.

In 1996 the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress went to Alaska at the invitation of the Mayor to participate in a special sister city celebration. Since that time, numerous Darwin residents have enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Anchorage community, including Alderman Garry Lambert, who visited in July 2004 to discuss projects including a schools internet project between the cities and a Fire Services exchange.

Darwin and Anchorage are truly 'Sister Cities' in many ways that is also reflected in our Territorial / State Government

• Alaska and the Northern Territory are both frontiers and have extremes of temperature. The north of the Northern Territory has only two seasons the 'wet' and the 'dry' while the Central region has a typical desert climate of extremes of hot and cold;
  
• Alaska has MT McKinley and the Kenai Peninsular while the Northern Territory has Uluru (Ayres Rock) and Kakadu National Park with its tropical wetlands and 80 inches of rainfall on average each 'wet';
  
• The Northern Territory has many national parks as does Alaska that are significant attractions well known across the world;
  
• Alaska has bears, wolves, the NT has crocodiles, deadly jellyfish in our waters and the world's most venomous snakes;
  
• We are both frontiers - The Northern Territory refers to everything not Territorian being 'down south' while Alaskans refers to the lower 48 in everything not being 'Alaskan';
  
• As soon as the weather changes to the 'dry' Territorians go fishing - so do Anchorage residents in the springtime/summer - our only difference is fish type from Barramundi and sailfish to salmon and halibut;
  
• Even our flags are unique (both with star constellations) setting us apart from the rest of our country's flags;
  
• We both have the best crab fishing in the world;
  
• We both have a similar political representation in our respective federal Governments;
  
• While we have no snow in the Northern Territory ( the desert is a thousand miles from any large water mass) it gets to minus 10 C in the winter in Alice Springs but the north features pristine white sand beaches that stretch for 40 miles or more in Arnhem Land;
  
• Lightning storms in the Darwin Northern Areas (cyclone season)/ western desert dust storms are truly a photographic spectacular. Darwin has the most lightning strikes to the ground than anywhere in the world - this compares with Auroral Borealis lights of the winter in Alaska and;
  
• Travellers in the bush, hunting, fishing or just camping have many stories to tell about the inspects, their escapes in 50 degree Celsius temperature in drought stricken or crocodile infested areas compares with 50 degree below ice cave survival techniques;
  
• Cyclones have destroyed Darwin on four occasions; Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1974 was the last super destroyer. Anchorage has its major earthquakes - the last being in 1964;
  
• Darwin was about gold mining in the late 1800's so was Alaska;
  
• We have tides like Anchorage (7 - 8 metres with the Darwin harbour sometimes nearly only sand), we have one large city (Darwin) as against Anchorage and one smaller (Alice Springs) as against Fairbanks;
  
• Darwin and Anchorage are both on peninsula's with spectacular diving opportunities;
  
• Both the Northern Territory and Alaska were bombed by the Japanese in WW2;
  
• Our Governments are very development orientated with heavy support to the tourism industry;
  
• Both Anchorage and Darwin have a very high military presence. Both have a very large Army, Air Force and Naval presence, guaranteeing high turnovers of staff;
  
• We are both very mineral related, the NT on uranium, natural gas, gold and diamonds and Alaska has gas and oil ;
  
• Photo opportunities are huge in both places - the specular desert at dawn, Uluru (Ayers Rock or the Olgas) at sunset or when raining and the wetlands of the tropics in the dry season - makes for great calendars as does the spectacular scene of Alaska;
  
• Captain Cook founded Anchorage and he is acknowledged as Australia's founder;
  
• Darwin was bombed in WW2 more than 40 times and its war history is intact at sites around the Darwin City of 80,000 people as was the Aleutian Islands;
  
• The 'Track' as it is known is the only major sealed highway in the Territory linking Alice Springs and Darwin - Seward to Fairbanks is the only major road in Alaska
  
• Walking trails and wilderness camps around the Northern Territory, including Safari Lodges are similar to those in Alaska;
  
• Wild Buffalo in the 'Top End' and Camels in the desert are like Alaska's Caribou, Moose and Reindeer;
  
• Mosquitoes cause major heartache to both of us;
  
• The NT has over 20 large cruise ships (including the QE2) visiting per year;
  
• Stories of danger (crocodiles), survival in the desert is not dissimilar to survival in the Alaska wilderness (with bears and wolves).