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Darwin's Sister Cities

Crowd at Harmony DayHarmony Day

The Sister Cities program celebrated Harmony Day with a free community event at Raintree Park 21 March 2013.  Participants tried Greek sweets, made Chinese dumplings, learned Indigenous dot painting and participated in Timorese dancing.  See photos of the celebration here. 

Harmony Soiree Helpers

The Sister Cities Program is looking for people to be involved in the organisation of our stall for the Harmony Day Soiree to be held at the Waterfront 1 June 2013.  If you would like to be involved please email us darwin@darwin.nt.gov.au

Become a Member!Committee Members at Deckchair Fundraiser

Do you have a passion for increasing cultural understanding?  Do you have an interest in improving person-to-person links with our international friends?  Then why not join our mailing list? Subscribe to our newsletter

For more information click on the links below or email darwin@darwin.nt.gov.au or phone 8930 0695.

International Relations Newsletters

Learn more about our Sister Cities Program through our past newsletters.

Sister Cities Mission: “to increase international understanding with our sister city partners through the promotion of international communication and exchange at the community level.”

Darwin's Sister Cities

City of Darwin has been an active participant in the Sister City Movement since establishing its first joint agreement with Kalymnos in Greece in 1982.

The mission of the Darwin Sister Cities Program is to increase international understanding with our sister city partners through promotion of international communication and exchange at the community level.

Since the inaugural Kalymnos signing, other agreements have been sealed with cities and communities as diverse as Anchorage in Alaska, Ambon in Indonesia, Haikou in China, Milikapiti in the Territory's Tiwi Islands, and Dili in Timor Leste.

The dates and places of signings are listed below in chronological order.

Kalymnos: Signing 23 April 1982 in Darwin 

Anchorage: Signing 28 July 1982 in Darwin, 23 September 1982 in Anchorage 

Ambon: Signing 28 October 1988 in Ambon, 21 July 1989 in Darwin

Haikou: Signing 5 September 1990 in Darwin

Milikapiti: Signing 5 July 1999 in Darwin

Dili: Signing 18 September 2003 in Darwin

The Sister Cities Movement

Sister Cities Movement

The Sister City Movement helps to facilitate friendship links between diverse communities throughout the world, with the aim of increasing understanding and fostering world peace. Other benefits include tourism, technical and professional collaborations, investment, trade, educational and cultural exchanges.

Formal recognition of Sister City affiliations began after World War II when US President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed the 'People-to-People' program at a White House conference in 1956.

His intention was to involve individuals and organised groups at all levels of society in 'citizen diplomacy', with the hope that personal relationships, fostered through sister cities, county and state affiliations, would lessen the chance of future world conflict.

The Australian Sister Cities Association (ASCA) was established in 1981 and a secretariat was formed to promote, coordinate, advise and distribute resources in relation to sister cities.

In 2008, the Australian Sister Cites Association changed its name to Sister Cities Australia.

Useful Links

Sister Cities Australia (Peak Body)

Sister Cities International (United States of America National Body)  

For more information about the Sister Cities Program, please contact the Senior Community Development Officer - Liveability:

Tel + 61 (08) 8930 0695  
Fax + 61 (08) 8930 0644
Email darwin@darwin.nt.gov.au