It is good to hear that Darwin agronomist, longtime activist and champion giant melon grower, Robert Wesley-Smith, has resumed working on his memoirs . Little Darwin became aware of this when we rang and informed him we had acquired a 2002 updated book , A-Z of Motorycles , an illustrated encyclopedia, by Roland Brown .
Knowing he had been an Easy Rider from way back , we suggested one of his bikes in particular , perhaps now rusting and forgotten in one of his sheds, could be worth a fortune.
Alas, it had been sold years ago , he said.
Wes is shown below seated on a Yamaha , with some of the trophies he won for motorbike racing in the Northern Territory .
To celebratate the centenary of the permanent settlement of Darwin , in l969 , Wes took part in a dusty ouback scramble on a Yamaha 350cc TD1. It went from Darwin to Nourlangie safari camp run by Alan Stuart, known as the Great White Hunter , mentioned recently in this blog.
A special postage stamp was produced to mark the centenary and the Darwin City Council put out a medal.
(Memoirs. Rebel. Yamaha.)
