北部地方(Northern Territory)

亦译澳北区。澳大利亚北部自治领地。面积1,346,200平方公里。首府达尔文，是艾丽斯斯普林斯（Alice Springs）以外唯一人口稍多的城市。当地人口大部分是欧洲移民的後代，约1/5为澳大利亚原住民。主要由台地组成，东南是辛普森沙漠，北部是安恒地区高原。原住民在此已经居住了数千年，艾尔斯岩为其文化中心。荷兰人於17世纪探险时到过这里，19世纪初夫林德斯（M. Flinders）对此地作了调查。最初为新南威尔士的一部分，1863年并入南澳大利亚，1911年由澳大利亚联邦直接管辖。北部有部分地区在第二次世界大战中曾遭日本轰炸，後被同盟国军队占领。1978年取得在联邦范围内的自治权。当地人口稀少，经济以牛牧场、矿业及政府服务业为主，20世纪後期旅游业有所发展。人口195,000（1996）。

English version：

Northern Territory

Territory (population 1996: 195,000), northern Australia. It covers an area of 519,800 sq mi (1,346,200 sq km). Its capital is Darwin; the only other sizeable town is Alice Springs. Most of the people are of European descent; about one-fifth are Australian Aborigines. It consists mainly of tableland, with Simpson Desert in the southeast and the Arnhem Land plateau in the north. It was inhabited by Aborigines for thousands of years; they held Ayers Rock as central to their culture. The coast was explored by the Dutch in the 17th century and surveyed in the early 19th century by Matthew Flinders. First included as part of New South Wales, it was annexed to South Australia in 1863. It reverted to direct control of the Commonwealth in 1911. The northern parts were bombed by the Japanese in World War II and occupied by Allied troops. It was granted self-government within the Commonwealth in 1978. It remains sparsely inhabited; its economy rests on cattle farming, mining, and government services, although tourism was growing in the late 20th century.