Darwin Council has spent the last 30 years thinking it owns the mall but it doesn’t

Darwin Council says it has made a very interesting discovery about the Smith St mall and the reason behind that find.

Darwin Council has spent the last 30 years thinking it owns the mall but it doesn’t

For the past 30 years Darwin Council was under the impression it owned Smith St Mall, but an administrative bungle means the CBD strip never changed hands.

Until a couple of weeks ago the council thought the mall belonged to the council but it is in fact in the hands of the Territory Government.

Mayor Kon Vatskalis said he had written to the government asking for the mall to be put into the care of Darwin Council.

The truth was dug up when council workers were looking to upgrade infrastructure and when looking at plans they realised the land was owned by the government.

Mr Vatskalis said he couldn’t believe it when he realised the paperwork was never completed back in 1986.

“It’s a bombshell because now we have a different reality,” he said.

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“Everybody assumed because Smith St is council owned, the mall would be Darwin Council property but the mall was never transferred to Darwin Council.”

He expects the mall to be transferred without cost into council.

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He said the money spent in upgrading the mall over the decades would not be sought as it was in good faith that the mall was owned by council.

“We spent the money and they will transfer it to us and it will be all right. All the money spent was in good faith because it was (thought to be) Darwin Council owned,” he said.

He said the council would now check to make sure they actually owned property they thought they were in possession of.