There are politicians who manage things carefully, quietly and cautiously. Then there was Paul Everingham — the Northern Territory’s first Chief Minister — who approached leadership the way most Territorians approach cyclone preparation: leave it late, move fast and hope confidence counts as a strategy. 

Love him or loathe him, Everingham helped build the modern Northern Territory. And not in the polite “formed a committee” kind of way. He helped drag the NT out of its awkward adolescence as a federally controlled outpost and turn it into a politically self-confident jurisdiction with its own voice, its own swagger and a permanent distrust of southern bureaucrats carrying clipboards. 

If modern Territory politics has a personality and attitude, there’s a fair chance Paul Everingham created it. 

Born in Brisbane in 1943, Everingham trained as a barrister and solicitor before heading north, where he quickly realised the Territory was being run less like a state and more like a forgotten regional branch office of Canberra. At the time, the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly had limited powers and Territorians had all the political autonomy of a teenager asking permission to borrow the car. 

Then came 1978. 

At just 34 years old, Everingham became the Northern Territory’s first Chief Minister following self-government on 1 July 1978. It was one of the biggest moments in Territory history and Everingham attacked it with the enthusiasm of a bloke who’d just discovered he now had access to the machinery shed and the keys. 

Before self-government: 

• Canberra made most of the decisions 
• Territory ministers had limited authority 
• economic independence was weak 
• development moved at the pace of cold porridge 

Everingham’s view was simple: the Territory needed to stop acting like a dependent outpost and start behaving like a serious economic region. 

And to be fair, subtlety was never really the plan. 

He led with the confidence of a man reversing a boat trailer without checking the mirrors. Protesters, activists and Canberra bureaucrats were often treated less like stakeholders and more like obstacles standing between the Territory and progress. In fairness, 1970s Territory politics was basically part parliament and part pub argument. 

But what made Everingham different was vision. 

The man thought big. Sometimes alarmingly big. 

Post-Cyclone Tracy Darwin was still rebuilding physically and psychologically. Roads were rough, infrastructure was patchy and much of the Territory still felt stitched together with corrugated iron, optimism and luke-warm beer. 

Everingham’s response? Build everything and they will come. 

Roads. Schools. Hospitals. Housing. Utilities. Government departments. Tourism infrastructure. Remote development. Industrial projects. Anything that looked expensive, difficult and geographically unreasonable immediately became a Territory priority. 

He approached infrastructure spending like a bloke who’d discovered government borrowing and refused to leave the store. 

Critics accused him of spending too much money too fast. Supporters argued that without Everingham the NT would still be connected by a thin thread of good intentions. 

Either way, he governed with the philosophy: 

“If it looks impossible, remote and financially terrifying — the Territory should probably build two.” 

One of his boldest moves was backing the development of Yulara near Uluru. 

At the time, the idea of building a world-class tourism hub in the middle of the desert sounded completely unhinged to many Australians. Critics said it was too expensive, too remote and too risky. Everingham basically replied: “Exactly.” 

He understood before most tourism strategists and “creative types” that the Territory, Red Centre, fishing, Arnhem land and remote frontier itself was the product. 

That was the attraction. 

He realised international visitors would absolutely fly across the planet to stand in 40-degree heat, get covered in flies and pay premium prices for the privilege — provided the experience was world-class enough. 

Turns out he was right. 

Yulara became one of Australia’s most iconic tourism destinations and helped position the Northern Territory as more than just “that bit above South Australia everyone drives through once.” 

Everingham also aggressively pushed mining, gas, pastoral expansion, port development and Asian trade links. Long before “Indo-Pacific strategy” became fashionable in Canberra, Everingham was talking about Darwin as “Australia’s northern gateway to Asia”. 

To southerners at the time, this probably sounded ambitious. To Territorians, it just made sense. 

Of course, not everyone loved him. Everingham’s biggest political fights centred around development versus Aboriginal land rights. He believed strongly that the Territory should control its own land, resources and economic future instead of being micromanaged by Canberra. 

Supporters saw him as defending Territory autonomy. Critics thought he occasionally approached cultural and environmental concerns the way road crews approach potholes on the Stuart Highway — acknowledge briefly, then drive straight over them. 

Everingham was governing for all Territorians 

He tackled the debate headfirst and at full speed, convinced economic growth was the key to the Territory’s future. Opponents argued he sometimes sounded like a bloke yelling “progress!” from the front seat of a bulldozer in steel-capped boots. 

But even his critics admit: Paul Everingham changed the Territory permanently and for the good. 

Under his leadership: 

• the NT public service expanded
• local government capability grew
• Darwin became a real admin capital
• infrastructure investment accelerated
• Tourism branding evolved
• the Territory developed its own political identity 

And perhaps most importantly, he created the mythology of modern Territory politics: 

• anti-bureaucratic
• fiercely independent
• pro-development
• suspicious of Canberra
• practical over ideological
• slightly chaotic but strangely effective 

The Country Liberal Party dominance through the 1980s and 1990s was built heavily on that identity. 

Even today, most major Territory political debates are still arguments fought on foundations laid during the Everingham years: 

• statehood
• Canberra interference
• land rights
• development versus conservation
• northern economic growth
• population expansion 

And maybe that’s his real legacy. 

Paul Everingham didn’t just build infrastructure. He built the Territory attitude. 

He convinced Territorians they could think big, argue loudly, back themselves and stop waiting for permission from the south. 

Sometimes that confidence looked visionary. 

Sometimes it looked slightly unhinged. 

But in the Territory, those two things have always been pretty closely related. TQ 

LIBRARY & ARCHIVES NT. (1976). FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY MEMBERS. N. GLEESON COLLECTION, PH0120/0107.