Abstract: This paper contributes to recent debates about how urban policy discourses travel, whether they are transferable and what is lost in their translation. It draws on recent ARC-Linkage funded research on Darwin, a tropical-savannah location which the local government wants to promote as a ‘creative city’. We contexualise our discussion in academic literatures on the creative city, and then discuss the geographical, demographic and cultural characteristics that make Darwin a challenging and distinct context for translation of global theories of creative city rejuvenation. As well as argue a case for more nuanced locationally-specific analysis of the capacity of places to embrace travelling policy discourses, we suggest ways in which creative city research can be refreshed, including through intersection with literatures on (post)colonial urban politics, and through consideration of policy initiatives other than those targeted at ‘creative industries’ per se. We also emphasise that tropical cities in remote locations provide particular challenges to accepted wisdom about creativity-led urban planning.