After three unsuccessful attempts to colonize the northern coast of the Northern Territory this whole vast area was given to South Australia. Port Darwin had been discovered in 1839. Mr. George Woodroffe Goyder, the Surveyor-General from South Australia began to survey the town early in February 1869.
Dr. Robert Peel came as the doctor attached to the survey team. After establishing a camp below what is now Government House, the first priority was to find a supply of potable water. Two days later water was found and a well was sunk; this well was named for Dr. Peel. Over the passage of years a street was named after the doctor and the area of the well became Doctor's Gully. The surveying included a site for a hospital on the cliffs above Doctor's Gully and now bounded by Packard Street.