Howard Springs, Northern Territory

Howard Springs is a locality in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is SE of the Darwin CBD. Its local government area is the Litchfield Municipality. The suburb is mostly a rural area, but has been experiencing strong growth in population and development. From 2020, it has housed a major quarantine facility.
Early history.
European settlement of the area began in 1864. The stream which commenced with a spring was named for Frederick Howard in 1865 by the survey party of B. T. Finniss. Howard was the captain of a schooner and a hydrographer. 
Although first examined in 1921, Howard Springs in 1939 became the first major water supply area to service Darwin, at one time also known as Worgan Springs. Discharge was calculated to be every twenty-four hours. Later Manton Dam supplied water to Darwin with the onset of World War 2, but now most of Darwin's water supply comes from Darwin River Dam.
Uranium was located in the area in November 1952, but not in a workable form.
The suburb is mostly a rural area, but has been experiencing strong growth in population and development. A primary school was erected in 1974. 
An accommodation facility was built at Howard Springs in 2012 by Japanese energy company Inpex to accommodate up to 3500 workers. The facility was closed and abandoned in 2018. 
Quarantine facilities.
From early 2020, the abandoned accomodation facility became a quarantine facility for people returning to Australia from areas infected with COVID-19, initially on 9 February 2020 from Wuhan. The facility was run by the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT). From later in 2020, the facility was a quarantine facility for people arriving from Victoria during the second lockdown of that state. 
From late October 2020, the facility was used for repatriating Australians from Europe and India. From May 2021 the Northern Territory Government began to gradually take over all operations from AUSMAT.