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.
== Campuses and buildings ==
The university has its main campus in Casuarina, in Darwin’s north. In 2024, it opened the Danala campus in the Darwin's Education and Community Precinct. Satellite campuses are spread across metropolitan and regional areas, including Palmerston, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek in the NT, and Sydney and Brisbane.
== Governance and structure ==
=== Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor ===
The current and fourth chancellor of the university is former politician Paul Henderson, inducted March 2019. In December 2024, CDU announced that Trevor Riley, who had previously served as the Chief Justice of the Northern Territory, would take office …
