Further proof that our waterfront roundsman is losing his facullties due to senile decay and the grave global shortage of monkey gland injections is his failure to instantly snap up a highly desirable object at the old wares monthly market in the leafy grounds of the Mundingburra State School ,Townsville .
Due to his deteriorating eyesight , he thought it was a nondescript souvenir of Melbourne's Moomba Festival, so just took a photo of the object.
With the help of a magnifying glass, he later examined the photo and let out a salty oath as if being masticated by hungry Moby Dick when he discovered it was a sandwich tray for the Macrobertson Trophy London to Melbourne Air Race , described as the world's greatest , part of Melbourne's 1934 centenary celebrations .
On the left is an outline of the United Kingdom ; there are several planes depicted heading for Australia and the years 1934-l935.
There were five compulsory stops along the way- Baghdad, Allahabad, Singapore, Darwin , in the Northern Territory, and Charleville, Queensland .
The wealthy Australian confectionery manufacturer Sir Macpherson Robertson put up 15,000 pounds for the 18,222 km race , which set out in October 1934 , a gold medal given to each pilot who completed the flight within 16 days .
How could the Shipping Reporter possibly have failed to instantly realise the importance of this link with Australia's aviation history ?
Belatedly realising its desirability , he hitched a lift back to the market , but all the dealers had packed up and gone home , gnash, gnash .
The big question he asked himself over and over : Will it still be available in a month ? Of course, some other smarter person may have snapped it up soon after the myopic Shipping Reporter took the candid camera snap.
Imagine his delight when he tottered along to the market after an anxious month and found the tray still for sale !!!