Anchorage, Alaska, and Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia may seem an unlikely match at first, but the two cities share some notable commonalties: Remote location, unique bird watching, port city life, deep aviation roots, a fruitful tourism industry and, most sentimentally, many years of sisterhood.
2012 marks the 30th anniversary of the Anchorage-Darwin relationship and Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan is taking that number very seriously.
According to a press release from Dan Sullivan's office, the Mayor is expected to host meetings with Darwin's Lord Mayor Katrina Fog Lim and three other Darwin officials next week. In addition, The Anchorage Sister Cities Commission will serenade the city with a special one hour "Music in the Park" event on Wednesday, July 18, beginning at noon. As usual, "Music in the Park" will take place at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Park in downtown Anchorage in front of Old City Hall.
Darwin, the capital city of Australia's Northern Territory, was named after the famous British naturalist Charles Darwin by his HMS Beagle shipmate John Clements Wickham back in September of 1839.
In addition to Darwin, Anchorage has six other Sister Cities. They are (in no particular order): Tromsø, Norway; Magadan, Russia; Chitose, Japan; Incheon, South Korea; and Whitby, England.