Journalist Ross Annabell was
offered the editorship of the struggling union owned
Northern Standard , which he joined in
late April l954 . He threw
himself into the task of trying to brighten and save the paper and came up against the usual
union interference. However, he got out his
first improved edition. Taking all the obstacles in his stride,
he prepared an edition in his second week at the helm of which he was proud , but it did not see the light of
day because the paper’s
last linotype machine broke
down. The union directors held a
meeting behind closed doors and
announced there were no funds to fly up a mechanic from south or buy a new lino . The Standard , which had fought long and hard for the workers , closed down .
Annabell was given one month’s
pay . The NT News
rejoiced at its rival’s demise.
Shortly
afterwards, Annabell, back freelancing , set
out on a prospecting trip into Arnhem Land with Dr George Sleis who , a short time later was co-founder of the
Sleisbeck uranium lodes. Dr Sleis
, a Czechoslovakian trained
geologist , was
reluctant to have his photograph
taken and his name published. It was alleged he had
worked for the Germans in the uranium industry
during the war and then for
the Russians. There were claims
that he was on a Czech
underground deathlist . He had come to
Australia, joined the Bureau of Mineral Resources and been sent to Rum Jungle
uranium mine , later joining
the North Australian Uranium Company.
The Melbourne Argus newspaper ran a weekend feature article on September 25 ,1954 by Annabell about the NT's uranium boom which covered the hectic activity taking place at the Sleisbeck mine site. After Dr Sleis received publicity for the find and his photograph was published, he became agitated. He left the company , moved into the Hotel Darwin and accused people of spying on him . So unstable was he that he attacked journalist Doug Lockwood in the hotel and pulled his hair.
Soon after, he was involved in a bizarre episode in which he built a wall of stones across a road and then lay naked on the ground . Some people driving up from south saw him and , thinking something terrible had happened , screeched to a halt to help . Up sprang Dr Sleis with a stick and began to dance about on the bonnet . Shocked, they drove off, went to the nearest town and reported the event to the police. Sleis was taken into custody . In the court application to have Sleis declared a mental defective, evidence was given about his ravings in which “ Himmler ”and Russians were mentioned.
Because
of his involvement with the Standard,
Annabell was smuggled into the Rum Jungle uranium mine by unionists to report on the primitive
conditions for miners. Inspired by the uranium boom ,
about which he
wrote for southern newspapers , Annabell
and some others formed their own
prospecting syndicate . One weekend his
partners left him in a camp
set up in the bush and headed back into town to resume their Monday to Friday jobs.
Annabell went to a nearby hill
with a geiger counter , turned it on and
got a good reading. Elated, he
ran down the track after his
departing friends wanting to break the good news, but could not catch them. He had
to wait until the weekend
for them to return. During that
time he danced about his “
mountain of uranium” in delight and
dreamed of rolling in filthy
lucre . The find became known as
Annamount. NEXT : Bowditch in Flying Saucer X-Files .
