ROMANTIC THURSDAY ISLAND

In a  batch of  old   photographs  bought    from   an   antique  stall  at  the   Port Adelaide   market  decades ago   was   this   view  of   Thursday   Island   taken  by   Gilbert  A.  Smith .  He   is   listed   in  THE  MECHANICAL  EYE IN  AUSTRALIA  Photography 1841-1900  as   having   first  been    based  on  the   island   in 1897.  The   British  writer  Somerset   Maugham  spent several weeks  on  Thursday Island  in  the  l920s  and it  has  been  stated   he  wrote a short  story,  later  famously  known as Rain ,  which    told  of    the   moral  disintegration of  a  missionary  attempting  to   convert  a Pacific  island  prostitute , Sadie Thompson,  adapted  as  a  play  and  made  into several films. 

 1932 version   

 

From  a  family of  lawyers,  Maugham  had  a  stammer and  studied  medicine  before  becoming a highly paid writer  in the l930s. Maugham travelled a lot  and many   of  his  short  stories  were  inspired  by  accounts  he  heard  during  his  travels  in    outposts of  the Empire.

 While in Sydney , he  was  told  that  Thursday Island   was  the  last  place  made  by  God ,that  there  was nothing to see there and  he  would probably  have  his throat cut if he went there. He wrote an  account   of arriving  at TI  aboard  a  Japanese vessel   and  being  greeted  by  a  woman  in  her nightgown  at  the  Grand  Hotel. The island and  its many colourful characters inspired  him.  


A  fort  had   been   built at   Battery Point  on   the island   in the  1890s   because  of   tension  between  Russia and  Britain.  During  WW1   Maugham    served  with  the  Red  Cross  in what  was  called  the Literary Ambulance Corps . Later he  was  recruited  into  the British  Secret Service and  was in Russia before  the  Bolshevik  Revolution.

 Tom  Flynn,  who  inspired  the  character  Tim O’Cannon   in  Xavier Herbert’s  award  winning  1938  novel , Capricornia, about the  Northern Territory, spent  some  time  on  Thursday Island   working  as  a blacksmith  before  going  to  Darwin. It  is suggested   he   joined   the  military  garrison on TI   which  made  him  enthusiastic  about  bearing  arms  and  all  things  military.  Flynn’s  Aboriginal   wife ,  Nellie ,  became   the  character    known  as  the Bloody Parakeet  , so  called  because  of   the   bright  clothes  she  wore.