After the annexation of the Northern Territory by South Australia through Royal Letters Patent, in July 1863, land sales could begin. For this to happen surveys had to be completed.

The initial Northern Territory survey expedition commenced under Boyle Travers Finniss. Its aims were to survey country sections and locate a suitable site for the capital of the Northern Territory. Finniss was recalled to Adelaide in 1867 and the settlement disbanded. This was one of four attempts at coastal settlement in the Northern Territory.

Explorer John McKinlay was commissioned to investigate sites in the Adelaide River region, without success. Finally George Woodroffe Goyder, Surveyor-General of South Australia, was sent to complete the task. In late 1868 Goyder and 150 men left Port Adelaide aboard the Moonta. They reached Port Darwin early in 1869.

In February 1869 Goyder founded the settlement of Palmerston, later known as Darwin. Six months later, more than 650,000 acres were surveyed as town and country sections.

Donovan, PF. A Land Full of Possibilities: A History of South Australia's Northern Territory, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1981

Powell, Alan. Far country: a short history of the Northern Territory, 5th edition Darwin, N.T. : Charles Darwin University Press, 2009