Dubbed “World’s End” by its inhabitants, Port Essington in western Arnhem Land was the third failed attempt by the British to settle northern Australia.

The first two attempts to settle Australia’s north – Fort Dundas on Melville Island and Fort Wellington at Raffles Bay – had both failed within 5 years.

The British, fearing that other imperial powers like the Dutch or the French would stake a claim to Australia, attempted a third settlement at Port Essington in 1838.

Plagued by natural disasters and disease, the naval settlement dragged on for 11 years until it was finally abandoned in 1849.

Don Christophersen, a historian and a member of the Muran clan of western Arnhem Land, tells the story of Port Essington, which sparked an intriguing cultural exchange between the British settlers and the local Indigenous people.

I produced this story for The History Listen on ABC RN, and you can listen to it here.