One of the many fascinating photographs from the wide ranging and extensive collection of the late Northern Territory identity and avid researcher , Vern O'Brien , shown here on the right , with author Frank Clune , at the memorial for surveyor and explorer David Lindsay , Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society , London , who died in Darwin as the result of heat stress in 1922.
The Genealogical Society of the Northern Territory (GSNT) is currently cataloguing the collection which included the contents of a battery of filing cabinets and many books , some of which were presentation copies from authors with inscriptions thanking Vern for his invaluable help in providing vital information, leads and illustrations. A longtime Territory public servant , a former Director of Lands , deeply involved in the GSNT, he was 91 years old when he died last year .
One item which attracted my attention was the diary of Brisbane town planner R.A.McInnis entitled Darwin 1940-1944. He had been commissioned by the Minister for the Interior to draw up the Darwin post war plan for the badly bombed city. Apart from containing informative comments on Darwin , it included wartime observations of Townsville , with a very favourable impression of the Queen's Hotel made during a stopover.
The diary was from the estate of the late American (Nebraska) , journalist,author Barbara James, who wrote about pioneering Territory women, contributed to the Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography , served on the advisory staff of NT Senator Bob Collins and tried to save the Hotel Darwin, which survived the bombing of Darwin , from being demolished .
Part of the compactus system in the GSNT is jam packed with Vern's well researched files on territory place names . During a mere two hours perusal of a small part of the collection, one could not help be deeply impressed by the astonishing amount of accumulated information and subjects researched by Vern over the years .
By Peter Simon
During a recent visit to Darwin I was given access to some of the O'Brien collection , still being processed , which included explorers diaries , early photographs of Darwin and Thursday Island , ephemera , documents and reports relating to wrecks, the "ghost roads" of West Australian drovers and information on Chinese and Japanese involvement with the Northern Territory . One item which attracted my attention was the diary of Brisbane town planner R.A.McInnis entitled Darwin 1940-1944. He had been commissioned by the Minister for the Interior to draw up the Darwin post war plan for the badly bombed city. Apart from containing informative comments on Darwin , it included wartime observations of Townsville , with a very favourable impression of the Queen's Hotel made during a stopover.
The diary was from the estate of the late American (Nebraska) , journalist,author Barbara James, who wrote about pioneering Territory women, contributed to the Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography , served on the advisory staff of NT Senator Bob Collins and tried to save the Hotel Darwin, which survived the bombing of Darwin , from being demolished .
Part of the compactus system in the GSNT is jam packed with Vern's well researched files on territory place names . During a mere two hours perusal of a small part of the collection, one could not help be deeply impressed by the astonishing amount of accumulated information and subjects researched by Vern over the years .
During the many years I knew Vern , we often swapped anecdotes about various people and events in the Northern Territory, ranging from a certain newspaper editor to administrators , departmental heads, assorted characters .
On one occasion , he laughingly informed me his wife ,Jacqueline, would probably dong me with an umbrella for something I had written about a colourful relative of hers in Darwin. I convinced her there was no malice aforethought in the article and the brolly was not wielded upon my scone, Vern gleefully informing me it was safe for me to venture out into the street without the fear of assault.
On one occasion , he laughingly informed me his wife ,Jacqueline, would probably dong me with an umbrella for something I had written about a colourful relative of hers in Darwin. I convinced her there was no malice aforethought in the article and the brolly was not wielded upon my scone, Vern gleefully informing me it was safe for me to venture out into the street without the fear of assault.
