Before World War II, in 1941 the Military authorities had decided on a number of locations in the north to identify strategic "camps" on ‘the road to the North’ - "Berrimah", "Noonamah" and "Larrimah". The Military Board chose some local Aboriginal names. During that time Berrimah became a military and industrial area.
Leading up to the bombing of Darwin and in late 1941, action was being taken to erect quickly the 119th Army General Hospital at the camp site to be known as "Berrimah", the Army quoting the origin of the Aboriginal word "to the south". The Hospital was erected on the present day Kormilda College site and was then called "Berrimah".
The original road reserve between Sections 41 and 42, Hundred of Bagot, became to be known as Berrimah Road and by September 1952, this name was officially gazetted as the access road south of the main Highway crossing to the Quarantine Station. The strafing of this Hospital by the Japanese in 1942 led to its eventual removal to Adelaide River.
Not far away on the eastern side of Berrimah Road, a small cemetery reserve marked the graves of Japanese airmen who ironically died in the earlier attempts to bomb Darwin into submission.
Located within Berrimah are the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Kormilda College, Berrimah Power Station, CSIRO Wildlife Research Laboratory, Berrimah Research Farm Centre, Darwin Prison, Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre, the Showground and Exhibition Centre.
Berrimah is a predominantly industrial area.
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