Popular Darwin hotel in busier days
If, as sung by Ted Egan while beating on an empty beer carton, they are bloody good drinkers in the Northern Territory, why do so many Territory hotels run into financial difficulties and close? The latest pub tipped to close in September is the Mandorah Beach Hotel , across the harbour from Darwin. According to the online newspaper, Wagaitear , now celebrating its 10th year of operation, edited by veteran journalist Jack Ellis , the Mandorah Hotel, on the Cox Peninsula, run by the same family for more than 40 years , is ready to shout time please for the last time and is likely to be demolished.
The pub was built on land bought from Alan Carter who ran Golden Sands holiday resort in which the honeymoon cabin contained a bed with a sagging mattress and cupids galore on the cover. Cupids also fluttered on the curtains . Linked to Darwin by ferry and road , the Mandorah Hotel was popular with Darwinites who came over for the weekend to fish and drink. When boats carrying refugees from Vietnam started to arrive in Darwin in the l970s it was not uncommon for people fishing from the Mandorah jetty to be asked by occupants of the vessels for directions to the city of Darwin .
On one memorable occasion, the occupants of a boat were firmly told to go back where they came from , while other helpful people said to proceed straight ahead and turn left at the iron ore loading wharf . A strange creature which became known as the Mandorah Monster was sighted on several occasions swimming in the area in the l950s and 60s and could have been a marine version of a Pink Elephant .
There was disbelief last year among journalists who had worked in Darwin over the years that the popular Vic Hotel , frequented by many scribes and the source of many stories , had closed because of financial problems ; it has since reopened , but is a tame shadow of its former self in bygone days . Another watering hole, part of the grand old Hotel Darwin, also closed , eventually reopened , revamped . Down in Alice the once centre of social activity, the Memorial Club, was forced to close its doors .
