Burnett House: Darwin Travel Guide (4.5★)

A house built to beat the heat

Before air conditioning, Darwin had louvres. Burnett House is one of the clearest lessons in how this city once kept cool. It is a 1938 home designed by Beni Burnett, the Commonwealth architect who shaped much of pre-war Darwin, and it is the only two-storey house of his that survives.

It sits on Burnett Place in Larrakeyah, on the Myilly Point headland. That is the high ground between the city centre and Mindil Beach. Few visitors make the turn off the main road to find it, so a weekday tour can feel close to private.

What you walk through

The design is the point. Look for these details as you go:

• Raised floors. Burnett lifted his houses so breezes could pass underneath and the living rooms stayed off the hot ground.
• Louvres and wide openings. Whole walls can open to the air. Notice how many surfaces are designed to let wind through rather than keep it out.
• Deep eaves and verandahs. They shade the walls from the tropical sun and keep the monsoon rain off the windows.
• The second storey. This is what makes the house unusual among Burnett’s surviving work, and it gives you a sense of how air moves up through the building.

Allow about an hour for the tour and a slow look around the grounds. Architecture fans can easily stay longer.

The point it survived

Darwin’s built history is a story of loss. The city was bombed in 1942, and Cyclone Tracy flattened much of it on Christmas Eve 1974. Many buildings from before those events are gone. A house from 1938 that is still standing, and has been restored rather than replaced, is rare here.

Myilly Point is now a heritage precinct. Burnett House is its anchor, and the National Trust looks after it. Being on the headland, a short distance from the busier waterfront, has helped keep it quiet.

Timing your tour around the morning-only hours

The hours are tight, so plan around them. At the moment, the house opens Monday to Saturday from 10am to 1pm and is closed on Sundays. Heritage houses change their hours with the season and close on some public holidays, so check the National Trust NT site for this month’s times before you go.

These are things locals know and visitors often miss:

• Arrive by 10am or soon after. With only three hours each day, a noon arrival leaves little time. Don’t plan this for Sunday.
• Ask questions. These are guided tours and the volunteers and staff usually know the house well. Ask about louvre angles or the cyclone and you will get much more out of the visit.
• Check the payment details first. No price is printed here. The current admission and how to pay are listed on the National Trust site and at the door.
• Dress for the tropics. It is a house built for airflow, not air conditioning. Wear light clothes and bring water, especially between November and April when the wet season makes the air heavy.

Best season to see it

The dry season, roughly May to October, is the easiest time to visit. The humidity drops and you can walk around Myilly Point without needing to recover afterwards. You can also link the tour with the rest of the headland on foot.

The wet season has its own appeal. When the air is thick and storms build over the Timor Sea, you can feel why every part of the house was designed around ventilation. Just keep in mind that a heavy downpour can make the walk unpleasant, so plan around afternoon storms.

After the tour: down the hill

Burnett House closes at 1pm, which leaves you the rest of the day free. Myilly Point sits right above Mindil Beach, so you can walk down to the sand easily. During the dry season, the Mindil Beach Sunset Market runs on Thursday evenings, and that pairs well with a Thursday morning tour.

The George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens are also close by on Gardens Road, with shady paths for the hottest part of the afternoon. In the other direction, the city centre and the Bicentennial Park foreshore are a short drive away, so it is easy to spend a whole morning on Larrakeyah and Darwin’s history.