Saturday, September 11, 2021

DARWIN LINKS WITH TERRORIST ATTACK

Former  Darwin journalist , the  late Peter Blake , seen above , centre, working as a bookie at  the  Fannie Bay  Racetrack  , was  employed  as a  copywriter   on  the  Murdoch  New  York Post   the day of  the  attack on  the  Trade Centre .

Living in Manhattan , he was out  walking , with his back to the  Trade Centre, when  he became aware that something  momentous had   happened.   

Against  the tide  of  frightened  people  trying  to  flee the city, Blake  made his way  towards  the  dramatic , unfolding  drama . 

 Ordered by  a  police officer  to   turn  round  and  head  away with the flow ,  Pete stopped in his tracks.   However, he  walked  backwards, so as not to attract  more  police attention.  He  was soon swallowed up  by  the wave of  humanity . Then  he  resumed  his  direct  race  to  the   New  York  Post

There  he  spent several  hectic days  covering  the  monstrous  event . 

 In Darwin , Peter had been the founding editor of the independent  Darwin Star, the name inspired by  the  Hong Kong Star  on which Blake had worked. He also edited and did the layout for two satirical publications ,Troppo  and the Fannie Bay Whisper, a  distant relative of Sydney's Kings Cross Whisper.  

On September 10,2011, the Northern Territory News ran a  feature, part reproduced  above,  by  Paul Toohey ,  about  Territory  firemen, in New York for the World Police and Firefighters Games, photographed at  Ground Zero.  They  were, from the left , Peter Simon, Edmund Flint and David Lines .