On 21 August 2003, the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly passed the Charles Darwin University Act 2003 (NT), merging Alice Springs' Centralian College and the Menzies School of Health Research with the Northern Territory University to form Charles Darwin University from 1 January 2004.
The inaugural university council meeting was held on 26 November 2003.

In 2020 Charles Darwin University caved to pressure from Chinese students and reprimanded a professor for including the line "... global pandemic originating in Wuhan, China has caused over 250,000 deaths, rendered millions of people ill, and inflicted recession on most areas of the global economy.”
in the background for an assignment in a course on sustainability.
The University incorrectly claimed that the assignment contained "inaccurate and insensitive wording."
CDU Student Administration Director Sam Jacob apologized and stated that such an incident would never occur again.
On 21 August 2003, the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly passed the Charles Darwin University Act 2003 (NT), merging Alice Springs' Centralian College and the Menzies School of Health Research with the Northern Territory University to form Charles Darwin University from 1 January 2004. The inaugural university council meeting was held on 26 November 2003.
In 2020 Charles Darwin University caved to pressure from Chinese students and reprimanded a professor for including the line "... global pandemic originating in Wuhan, China has caused over 250,000 deaths, rendered millions of people ill, and inflicted recession on most areas of the global economy.” in the background for an assignment in a course on sustainability. The University incorrectly claimed that the assignment contained "inaccurate and insensitive wording." CDU Student Administration Director Sam Jacob apologized and stated that such an incident would never occur again.
Charles Darwin University