Blog in the sky

The Darwin Blogger is no longer, With his Blog he has gone. No doubt he will be watching all that happening in this big wide world. thankyou all for reading his column.

AUSSIE JOKER SQUELCHED BY CHINESE MINER IN THIRSTY PUB EXCHANGE

This blog's recent yarn about the book on the legendary   Mayse  Young  OAM, who owned and operated pubs in Darwin , Katherine and    Pine  Creek  in  the Northern Territory,  drew  a  beaut   response  from  Darwin resident   Bob White .

His  message said  the  post  brought back old memories of Mayse and her husband Joe, he called both Bogga  and  Bogger ,  Bogga in the above gravestone , who also owned a  small cattle station near  Pine Creek on  the old  Stuart  Highway. 

After the war , White's father , the outback postman,  also built  the bush track that became the Kakadu Highway . His dad  used pack horses   and delivered  mail and  supplies  to  the Moline Mine  and other small shows and stations  out  that  way  to  JIm Jim .

He  operated mainly out of  Jimmy Ah Toy's store , near the pub,  in Pine Creek which was  the post office  and a popular  gathering spot . Ah Toy was the unofficial mayor  and his large family helped  run the store  and other enterprises ,including  a bakery . 

Bob said Pine Creek was a well known, must stop at waterhole back then. The pub was usually bustling, always full of characters from the surrounding district. 'Darky' Dempsey and Johnnie Yates were local tin gougers and gold explorers.

A local policeman of note , with a long  outback career,  in later years  was  arrested in Darwin, after a  drinking session ,  for taking and  not paying for  a  steak from  a store , resulting in him being nicknamed  T-Bone Tom .

 Bogga  Young , a  miner,  who  came to Pine Creek from Queensland , married  Mayse in the l930s,  was  a  renowned  practical joker . During the war years,  when they were  running  a pub at Crystal Brook, South Australia, he reportedly placed a dead rabbit in the chamber under the bed of a  visiting  Darwin woman . 

It was said he  placed  a chunk of  meat under the seat of  the  of a newly married couple who  passed  through  Pine Creek . He also  played a trick  on another  constable  who  used to  regularly  go  about   Pine Creek picking up  shiny stones,  bring  them into the  pub and  ask Bogga if he  thought   they  contained  gold.

Naturally , one day he was  informed  that  he  could be on another Eldorado ,and  should stake out  a  claim . However, police officers were not allowed to make  claims  to  prevent the  force  from being  depleted by a goldrush.

The  jubilant officer's wife  is  thought to have  applied for a miner's right . When  senior  officers in   Darwin  police  headquarters  became aware of this  , they   followed up  and  notified the officer that he  had   undoubtedly had his  leg pulled by  Bogga .  Thereafter , the  policeman  made  sure the  pub closed   on  time  every  night .

White provided details of an extraordinary event which involved a young Chinese gold fossicker sent by his elders, by foot , into Pine Creek from a mine and camp , just off the railway line, five to 10 miles out, to buy a bottle of gin.

Bogga decided to play up to the  pub customers by loudly asking  the young Chinese   what   sort  of   gin  he  wanted - warning... a  double  entendre  coming . 

There was  Oxygin, Nitrogin and "cosy Gin", who lived down the back, what would he like ?  Patrons listening were probably  choking on  their drinks.

The young  fellow, overawed by the range,  said he would go back to the mine and  ask his uncle, who was later spotted walking along the railway line . On arrival, he politely asked  Bogga  for a  bottle of  gin .

 Off  Boggar  went into  his  spiel  about  gins   . This resulted in the learned  Chinaman  supposedly saying... "And  Bogger ( Bogga ), there are three  types of  tirds , Custirds, Mustirds and  you , you Australian  Bastird!"

Unfortunately , there was  no CCTV  in those  days  to capture this classic  utterance for  posterity . After delivering the fabulous  punchline , the  uncle left  and ran back down the   railway  line , possibly to slake his thirst  with  a  Dutch  case  gin  , there being many empty ones  on  the  goldfield.  

Supporting the claim that Territorians were bloody good drinkers according to songster Ted Egan, was the above collection of  Pine Creek beeranalia .

Memo  Bob  White : Please write  your important , wide- ranging  memoirs and make sure you include the  time  a  Darwin Catholic Bishop  you  knew  who was on  a  fishing boat which broke down  said  he might  have to emulate  a  famous  person  and  walk  on  water  to  get  back  to  shore. 

(Chinese . Pub. Gold.)

THAR SHE BLOWS !

Erupting  bore  in  Darwin  rural  area .

 (Bore. Darwin. Photo.)

DUBIOUS CLAIM TO YACHTING FAME

Due to our  Shipping Reporter's age and  medication-especially the  kickapoo  steriods- he  is  prone to  making   startling   statements  .  

After recently discovering  washed up in Townville the  above profusely  illustrated  The  Official  Record of  Australia   11 , which won the  America's Cup  at Newport , Rhode Island , on September  26, 1983, described as the   sporting triumph of the century , he   made the  astonishing  claim  that he played a  part in the victory.  Please explain!!!

It seems that when  he was a pimply copy boy on The Sun , Sydney, in the l950s, he used to work weekends  at  Halvorsen's  Boatshed,   Bobbin  Head,  among  the  fleet  of  hire  boats and  cruisers. The Halvorsens were Norwegian  boatbuilders who  competed in  Sydney Hobart Yacht  Races    from  1946  to  l965.  

Once our waterfront  roundsman  was given the important  and smelly  task at Bobbin Head of cleaning  with creosote  the bilge of the  large yacht, Lauriana , built in l938 for a member of the  Arnott  biscuit family , which    was   a  radio vessel   from  l952 to l964  in the  Sydney Hobart Yacht  Races.   

So he claims his sloshing about in the bilge  helped  develop  the  yachting  skills  that  led  to  Australia  blowing  the  Yanks out  of  the water  in  l983.

The Shipping Reporter  said  he  also mixed with  veteran   sailors  when he  and  other young journos  used to  imbibe in  a Sydney  establishment  which catered for  Norwegian  seamen .

The first Aussie  12 metre yacht to  challenge  for the American's  Cup was Gretel ,designed by Alan Payne  and built by the  Halvorsen Brothers,owned by Sir Frank Packer, who sold it to Alan Bond . 

It only won one race against the defender Weatherly .The yacht was also used for Gretel ll's  challenge in 1970 and was later sold to Europe and went into  disrepair.

There is now a  Save  Gretel Campaign to return her to Australia  and  restore   part  of   the  nation's  maritime  history. 

 (Yachting. America's. Townsville.)

EARLY AUSTRALIAN ISLAND INVESTMENT GUIDE WITH SLAVE LABOUR CONTENT

Discovered  tucked away in Brisbane decades ago  was  the   l912  12pp  booklet , A Few Impressions  of Portuguese  Timor , compiled by the   Timor Development  Syndicate, Somerset House , Moore Street, Sydney . It contained a  short summary of  the products  and  investment  possibilities .

The cost of  labour , it pointed out , was so  low, if paid  to a seven year old boy in white Australia, he would immediately go on strike . Photos  included one of a  Timorese  planter with  his " boys."

There was mention  of  Port Darwin  and Australia's lack of knowledge about the  island , some Portuguese Timor stamps from Little Darwin collection . It seems there was a government run vessel  named "Dilly",  the capital  Dili. 

There was talk of exporting  buffaloes to the Philippines , said to be better than Australian bullocks. Tests had been carried out in Sydney on a  native  fibre plant regarded  equal in quality and strength to  the  best  Manilla hemp. Malaria was  rare .

Tied with chord, the  booklet  stated  there was evidence of ethnic tension  and that coffee, timber and  cotton  were produced . People were shown on Timor ponies ,  with cattle , and at  a military station. Women wore dresses with interesting  patterns  

(Timor. Portuguese . Slaves. )

CLIPPER SHIP ON AUSTRALIA RUN

Our Shipping Reporter  spotted  this  scarce and attractive clipper card in the latest list from  Douglas Stewart Fine Books, Melbourne , for $750.  It advertises a sailing of the Mindoro, an Australian Line ship, from Boston to Melbourne  with  United States mail in June 1873. She arrived in Hobson’s Bay, Melbourne on  November 5 ,1873 (The Australasian,  November 8, 1873).

(Clipper. Boston. Melbourne.)

BIRD WATCHING

Kookaburras . Vallis pix.

(Birds. Watching. Queensland. )

VOYAGE TO TREASURE ISLAND

In  his relentless search for  oddities, interesting books  and collectables , the  Shipping  Reporter  sailed   into  Australia's  largest Vinnies op shop   at  West End, Townsville, which covers 1900 square metres  of  floor space.  

Not interested in  the wedding  gown  and  smart  male attire section  near the  entrance , our scruffy waterfront roundsman pulled out his camera and snapped  a  small part  of  the  huge  emporium.  

In the past, the Queen Mother  was spotted   inside   a showcase  along with a copy of  Poor Fellow My Country by Xavier Herbert,  Maori  carvings.  On this trip  there was  evidence , below,   that there were many  collectors of royalty in  the north , Lady Di tucked away,  plus  souvenirs of  overseas  travel  to the South Seas , Britain  and  Asia. 

A  stand out    below  was  a 19ll  Wolseley  car , the firm founded  in 1901  by  Vickers armaments and   Herbert  Austin. 

Large carved trunk followed by jam-packed  showcase .

Further  on there is a  large book area , a  collectables section,  an  old sheet music, records and  vinyl   display ,CD and  DVDs , paintings and  prints ,  a  huge  clothing  offering  and  glassware , new  and  used  furniture  . There is a wide  range  of  British, Japanese  and   New  Zealand  china. 

Books the Shipping Reporter   came away with included two about  WWll in New Guinea and   one  dealing with  the  quest to recover an English pirate ship and its treasure  which sank off  the coast of Cape Cod in a  storm in  1717.  

(Treasure. Vinnies. Pirate.)

NORTHERN BOOK NEWS

About to be launched soon is the much anticipated  book about the  Northern Territory high profile barrister , Jon Tippett , who spent more than 20 years at the bar .The book has been written by Darwin  reporter  Paul Toohey , former chief northern correpondent of the  Australian. 

 He was previously a senior writer at the Sydney  Bulletin and is the author of three books: God’s Little Acre, Rocky Goes West and The Killer Within. He has won the Graham Perkin journalist of the year award and a Walkley award for magazine feature writing. 

Toohey also won a Walkley Award for his first Quarterly Essay, Last Drinks: The Impact of the Northern Territory Intervention.

Magnetic Island , off Townsville, features in the recently launched book , The Washup , by Nicole Crowe, which deals with a woman going back to the island after her parents' death in a car crash two years ago .

 Crowe grew up on Magnetic Island at Nelly Bay and it is said the beauty and strangeness of the island , combined with her brother's former profession as a skydive tandem master provided the inspiration for the book. 

(Books., Darwin. Island.)

WOLFING DOWN EXOTIC TUCKER

At a recent visit to  Darwin's popular Mindil Beach market ,our correspondent  Petros took time out  from  partaking of  the  great  array  of  tasty  food on  offer, including the  renowned   pawpaw salad ,shown being  made above  , to  photograph   an odd   cloud formation  which looked  like the head of  a  wolf. 

(Mindil. Salad. Wolf.) 

AMERICAN PRESENCE ON GOLDFIELDS

The latest acquisitions list by Douglas Stewart Fine Books, Melbourne, included the  rare invitation to  mark the 80th anniversary of American Independence on the fourth of July  1856 in the Alliance Hotel, Woolshed, Victoria . It sold  quickly. 

Isaac Burnham Kirby (1830-1914), whose name appears as the invitee on this Fourth of July celebration invitation issued by the Alliance Hotel in the gold rush township of Woolshed, near Beechworth in northeast Victoria, was an American citizen

The bookshop says he was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in New London, Connecticut. After joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young man, he accompanied the Mormon pioneers who made their way out west to settle in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley, arriving there prior to the end of 1850. He was re-baptised in Salt Lake City in June 1851 (LDS Church History Biographical Database).

Not long after this, Isaac emigrated to Australia with his young wife Mary Betsey (Cornell) (b.1837) to join the gold rush in Victoria. Evidently his older brother, John Kirby (1828-1900) emigrated as well, as he is probably the ‘J. B. Kirby’ that appears on the invitation card as a member of the organising committee for the Fourth of July event in Woolshed.

By 1855 Isaac had become the licensee of the Eureka Hotel in Yackandandah, east of Beechworth. (This was a highly unusual occupation for Isaac, since the Mormon faith encourages abstinence). No trace of this hotel remains, but it stood on a private allotment on the Yackandandah Creek known as Kirby’s Flat, where alluvial gold had been sluiced from as early as 1853 (Victorian Heritage Database Report).

Presumably, Isaac had initially enjoyed some success at alluvial prospecting which would have helped finance his business activities. He continued to run the hotel until 1858, when it was briefly taken over by George Rowe; he then resumed as licensee in 1859, staying on until 1862. He and Mary had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth (1855-1857), who died in infancy; their son, John Adams (1857-1913), was born around the time of his sister’s death; and a second son – Isaac’s namesake – was born in 1860.

Isaac returned with his family to the United States in 1862. With the Civil War still raging, they settled in Providence, Rhode Island. At the time this was one of the most prosperous cities in the Union, destined to soon become one of the wealthiest in the United States, so it is tempting to speculate that Isaac had perhaps returned to the land of his birth with a small fortune made on the Yackandandah Creek at Kirby’s Flat. Mary gave birth to two more children, Henry Arra (1862-1920) and Mary Elizabeth (II) (1867-1934). After Mary’s death, Isaac married Hannah Marshall Maxfield in 1886. He died in Providence in 1914 at the age of 83.

Although now virtually a ghost town, the gold rush township of Woolshed, situated a little to the north of Beechworth, was a boomtown in the 1850s which boasted its own theatre and racecourse. 

There were large numbers of American diggers in the area, and at various sites right across the Ovens goldfield; for example, Joshua Cushman Bigelow, the Woolshed storekeeper whose name (incorrectly spelled “Biglow”) appears as one of the organising committee on the invitation card, hailed from Maine, and he was the first to discover gold a little to the south-east of Beechworth in the district known as Snake Valley (later Upper Nine Mile).

 We believe it likely that most, if not all of the other Fourth of July celebration organisers at the Alliance Hotel were Americans, and we can imagine that they circulated their attractive invitations as far and wide as possible amongst the American community in the Beechworth district. For Isaac Kirby, well-known American publican at Yackandandah, to make the trip across to Woolshed to attend the event would have meant a full day’s journey on horseback.

(Americans .Goldfield. Victoria.)

SAINT SUCCUMBING TO GLOBAL WARMING

While the Great Barrier Reef has experienced extensive coral bleaching , it appears a prominent Townsville attraction, The Saint , on   the Castle Hill pink granite monolith , is also suffering due to the weather .

Our Shipping Reporter recently went looking for the 20 metre high figure   and found it had almost faded away. This, he said , is no way to treat a saint and a tourist attraction. It  clearly  needs  a  touch  up .

The Saint clearly  stood out in the above painting  and  a book was  written  about  the figure which was   drawn on  the north face of  Castle Hill by James Cook University  students  in March 1962. 

The Saint was inspired by the  figure left behind by Simon Templar in the British  detective series written by Leslie Charteris.

RURAL REBEL ROB BOOK UPDATE

Good to hear that  the book by   Darwin agronomist and  decorated  activist  Robert Wesley-Smith is at long last  with  the  printers and  could be available  in  mid-October.   An earlier work of his  is  shown here  . 

He  was  admired  by  the late  editor of the Northern Territory News, Jim Bowditch, who wrote him up in the paper on issues such as  the Vietnam War, aboriginal landrights ,the   East Timor struggle for freedom , and many other  matters, resulting in the Rural Rebel  Rob  title. 

During  the Timor  campaigning, another activist, Sam Kruger , said to have played a part in the  shooting  down of Admiral  Yamamoto's plane in WWll, received an intelligence tip that he and Wes would  be assassinated if they flew to Singapore. 

The shock  warning  given to Kruger specifically said it also applied to his  "four- eyed  mate"- spactacle wearing Wesley-Smith. The first president of  the  Northern Territory Civil Liberties  Council, formed just  after the l974  Cyclone Tracy , Wes  was involved with many other overseas and  local activists  , including one who opposed  uranium mining  and  changed his name  to Stuart Highway, the main  north south road.

Over the years  Wesley-Smith  built up a large filing  system, including one about  the Azaria  Chamberlain cases in  which  he  took an active  part  .

Nowadays Wes  continues to  raise  and comment  on  many  issues . He recently  dispersed  information about  a   West Australian  doctor who played an  important part with  Australian commandoes  in Timor during  WWll. 

His association with East Timor was so close that Timorese nuns  coming  to Darwin  were often picked up by him , transported  and even accommodated down on his  rural property, with his large   collection of protest T-shirts.

Seen driving by with the  nuns, it was  said that  it  was Father Wes with his flock.  

He also  tends  his melons in the hope  of  taking out first prize  again at  the  Darwin  Show .This is a dangerous pastime as a  friend of ours fell over and broke his wrist while picking  pumpkins. 

(Rebel. Book. Melon.) 

HELPFUL KOOKABURRA

Assisting  sort  out  Little Darwin's  jumbled  files  .

 (Kookaburra. Files. Blog.)

NO PLACE FOR A WOMAN AND MOKES

The   autobiography   of  Mayse Young  is  a   great insight  into and a tribute to  the  guts and enterprise of  so  many  families   in   tough   parts  of   Australia.

The blurb states  she was born in the bush , the daughter of  an itinerant railway worker , lived under canvas as a  child,  twice saw the  destruction of  her  home and all possessions, survived  the Japanese  bombing of  Darwin and   Cyclone  Tracy. 

By Peter Simon 

During  a   car trip  from Darwin to Alice Springs , I took award winning  author  Xavier  Herbert  into  the  Pine Creek Hotel and  told him about  the extraordinary  Mayse  and  her  husband . 

Herbert  had  been involved  with  several  feisty  women who  ran  pubs  in the Territory in  the  l920s and l930s who featured in his writing .  I also told him  about  the Territory's   "Death Adders"- gnarled, crotchety codgers ,  who could turn nasty ,but were not  really  bad old buggers , all generally having led  tough  lives.   

One of the  adders at Pine Creek was Cranky Franky Atkinson ,  an Englishman , who  lived in a tin shack , with whom I went   digging for bottles  and  Chinese  artefacts , which  included  part of  the  decorated  end  of  a joss  house  roof .

He said a lot of modern people regarded picking up a shovel and doing some hard  work as being like taking hold of a poisonous  black  snake. Franky  claimed   a person who gained a lot of publicity by making long distance  outback trips on a bicycle  faked photos in which he claimed to be  threatened  by  crocodiles.   

During a Royal Visit to Darwin , I informed the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh  about  the  Pine Creek  loyal  subject  Cranky Franky.       

 The   Pine  Creek  adders  included  a  Russian who used to drop into  Ah Toy's famous store on pension day and  shoot the breeze.   

A copy of the l991  book was  found in  Townsville recently  and discussed  with  veteran ABC Darwin journalist Richard Creswick who  played a major  part  in last December's Darwin Cyclone Tracy  50th  anniversary commemoration .

Creswick  pointed out  that  multi -skilled Mayse Young, apart   from  running  pubs and providing numerous other  services , had  been  the  ABC's  Pine Creek contact  for  news items .

He recalled  an episode  when his  schoolteacher  wife was in a party  which drove down to the UDP Falls in  the Kakadu National Park, which featured in the Crocodile Dundee movie,  Pine Creek a  distant drive away .

As  Richard had a few days off from the  ABC,  he decided to  drive  down in his Mini Moke  and call into  the Pine Creek Hotel  and  thank  Young   for her  help  as the  ABC  contact.

A stone smashed his windscreen  and   by the  time he drove back to  Darwin from Pine Creek   and  reported  for  duty,   his  workmates said  he looked like a lobster. 

(Outback. Pub. Adders.)

FENCE SITTER STUDY

Blue-winged  Kookaburra.

 (Kookaburra. Fence. Vallis.)

TROPICAL LIGHT DISPLAY

 

Cairns. Photos by Aeronautical Correspondent  Abra.

(Cairns. Lights. Abra.)

DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI

On December  28, l908 , Europe's most powerful earthquake shook southern Italy , killing more than  80,000 people.  Survivors  relocated  to other  cities, some immigrated to  the United States . The epicentre was in the  Strait of  Messina which separates  Sicily from the Italian mainland . Messina was completely destroyed  . These  postcards, in  the Little Darwin  earthquake collection,  came  from  a  British  traveller who had  visited the  area and said they could  be  valuable one  day.  

(Earthquake, Messina. USA.)

HISTORIC HOTEL

It is hard to believe   Darwin's   Victoria  Hotel, which opened in 1890  and   accommodated   pioneering   aviators  who  flew  into  the gateway  of  Australia, is  now  closed  . 

 

It was  dubbed the aviators' home away from  home and played  a  large part in  the city's  polygot life.  Its publicans included  two prominent ,enterprising   women and  the Fong  Lim  family. It  survived cyclones and the Japanese bombing  in  WWll .

An unusual   event  started  outside  the  Victoria  Hotel  when  American  magician and   film actor, John Calvert,  blindfolded  , with police approval ,  drove down the main street to the Town Hall to  promote  a show he was putting  on  to  raise   funds.

Calvert  had sailed  the luxury yacht Sea Fox , above , down from Singapore in l959. One of the passengers was a chain-smoking chimpanzee  he  claimed  had  been  Jimmy the Chimp  in  a Tarzan  movie.

When the Sea Fox  set out   for Sydney where  Calvert was  to put on a magic show  it got into difficulties, began to sink  off  Arnhem Land, and RAAF planes were called in  from  Darwin and  even Townsville  to  find it, the navy coming to the rescue . 

Jimmy the Chimp ended up in Taronga Zoo, Sydney .

A visiting American gourmet  experienced  buffalo meat in the Vic  for the first  time which had been specially  cooked for him  by  Richard Fong  . A local character known as  the Oyster King  claimed in court he  had been  donged  by  Fong . 

Many journalists and authors  wet  their whistles in the  Vic, including the  great crusading  editor of  the Northern Territory News" Big Jim" Bowditch who hid  stayput Portuguese sailors  and Malay divers  from police and was  himself arrested  from time to  time . Jack  White , the man who found the Rum Jungle uranium deposits, frequented  the  hotel .

Another imbiber with a derogatory nickname  was  said to  have stalled  the  getwaway  car in  a  failed  London  bankrobbery. 

The  Vic Hotel in the  l970s was  thriving ,closed 2014. 

(Hotel. Darwin. Tarzan.)

DROMEDARY TERRITORY

Mindil Beach, Darwin. Photo by camel driver Petros.

 (Camels. Darwin. Beach.)

NAVY BRINGS BACK OLDE RUM RATION

To cope with the ice  age sweeping across the southern states , the  Royal Australian Navy's  HMAS Adelaide is shown here in sunny  Cairns   taking  on  emergency rum barrels at Hemingway's Brewery, a daily tot of which will warm up  matelots when they sail  south into dangerous iceberg waters. This  (Ernest) Hemingway short story scoop includes photos by Aeronautical  Correspondent  Abra.  

(Navy. Rum . Cairns. )

BEFORE AND AFTER HOTEL

Shipping  Reporter  on  confusing  pub  crawl .

 

Townville's  Hotel  Sea-View which opened in 1929 changed in colour  and  profile over the years , now  in the  scooter age .

(Pub. Reporter. Townsville. 

RATBAG ODE TO A PACIFIC ISLAND

Magnetic Island  , off  Townsville, was  extolled in a poem   by the late Keith Garvey  in  the  book, Rhymes of  a  Ratbag  , published  by Hutchison in  l981 , the  jacket and  poems  illustrated by cartoonist  Dennis Hutton,the Magnetic Island  one   below. 

The drawing carried the message that leaving  Magnetic  Island  and  returning  to   the mainland  was  going  back to  the rat race. The island wildlife displayed  included  a  Peacock, a  Curlew, Laughing Jackasses-Kookaburras -and strange card- playing  creatures .

Garvey, born at Frog Hollow, Moree, NSW, of an Irish father and colonial mother,  in l922,  worked on many outback  jobs . He became   known as  the scribe  from the bush,  big  on  the  ABC  and   wrote  several  popular books .

Ned Kelly  and Captain Bligh  got a  mention in  his poems . So too did Lasseter's lost gold reef, the Dead Heart, Ted Egan's  songs  about the Northern Territory ,Gallipoli  battlefields  and  Korea.

(Poems. Island.  Garvey.)