The 6.2 magnitude quake struck at 8:51 a.m. local time about 240 miles northeast of the East Timor capital of Dili and 385 miles north-northwest of Darwin, Australia.
The U.S. Geological Survey placed the quake’s depth at about 80 miles.
The shaking caused dishes, windows and walls to shake in the Northern Territory capital despite the depth and considerable distance from the epicenter.
Geoscience Australia said the orientation of the fault lines beneath the Banda Sea allowed the seismic waves to travel very efficiently toward northern Australia.
In 2005, Darwin residents felt seismic ripples from a 7.1 magnitude quake centered more than 400 miles away.
The most powerful quake to be felt in the city was in 1963, when a magnitude 8.2 temblor also struck deep beneath the Banda Sea.