Europeans to walk the area that became the streets of Darwin, Northern Territory. Having had experience on the Victorian goldfields, it was at the Finniss River that the presence of gold arrested his attention; hence Litchfield went down in history as the man who discovered gold in the Northern Territory. Being loyal and industrious, Litchfield was so well regarded by Finniss that on 28 July 1865 he was appointed Acting Inspector in command of his newly formed (and short-lived) Rural Constabulary. Many regarded the formation of this police force beyond the power of Finniss to do, but it must have made Litchfield proud to be emulating the accomplishments of his father. Over time the decisions of Finniss became so criticised that the South Australian Government recalled the party with the intention of holding an inquiry into his conduct. In December 1865 the barque Ellen Lewis left the Northern Territory carrying Finniss and most of the witnesses, including Litchfield, to arrive back at Adelaide in February 1866. Litchfield then appeared as a witness favourable to Finniss at the Northern Territory Commission hearings that took place during March–April 1866. Death and legacy Soon afterward, Fred Litchfield promptly left Adelaide to travel to Bengal to join his younger brother George who was interested in tea plantations, thereby returning to the place of his birth and infancy. In June 1866, the Litchfield family heard that 29-year-old George Charles Litchfield had died suddenly in Cachar, Bengal, on 10 March. The cause is unknown, but famine and disease was then raging in many districts of Bengal. After settling George’s affairs, Fred travelled about Bengal extensively, and in August 1866 wrote a letter to the Register newspaper in Adelaide comparing the similarities, yet the merits, of the Northern Territory over those of Bengal. It seems he was looking for crops which might suit the Territory. Fred Litchfield had been in Bengal only nine months when he died at Sylhet, Bengal, (now Bangladesh) on 1 March 1867, aged 35 years. The cause of death is unknown. He had never married. In his time Litchfield was one of the few Europeans that could see great agricultural and pastoral prospects for the Northern Territory. His gold discovery, though inconclusive, stimulated the rush in the early 1870s that hastened its development. He is commemorated in the naming of Litchfield Municipality and Litchfield National Park, among other places. As a tragic but