Once boasted the Wall Street of the North
Saturday, May 15, 2021
QUEEN CITY'S FABULOUS PAST
Friday, May 14, 2021
AMERICAN OSPREYS IN DARWIN
Part of the American build up in Darwin includes tiltrotor Osprey aircraft used by the Marine Corps .
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A LEGEND
Search of Darwin op shops hits jackpot
Two of the many interesting books found , above, were from the library of the late Northern Territory legend, Nan Giese, AO, OBE , MBE, a leader and pioneer in education and the visual and performing arts . In 2011 Charles Darwin University named the Nan Giese Gallery in her honour . She died in 2012 aged 90.
By Peter Simon
The book on the left is the first volume of the artist Donald Friend's Diary , edited by Anne Gray ,published by the National Library of Australia , 2001, which appears to have been a birthday present to Mrs Giese from her renowned daughter , Diana , a writer, editor , publisher and oral historian , responsible for extensive research into and writing about Chinese Australians .
The National Library of Australia has the Diana Giese Collection .
A handwritten inscription in the book urged Mum to " Enjoy this diverting read!"
A rapid read of the tome brought out the fact that young Donald Friend , about 19, not wanting to go on the land like his pastoralist father , with his artistic mother's clandestine support , in the l930s , had rolled up his swag and slipped away to North Queensland .There he spent time in the Townsville area, slept in a cave and visited Magnetic Island .
The other book, bearing Nan Giese's penned name , dated December 1991, is the memoir of James Fairfax , son of Sir Warwick Fairfax , of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper dynasty . James became chairman of the John Fairfax Limited board , Amalgamated Television Services and David Syme Limited.
He built up a large art collection ,was on the council of the Australian National Gallery and on the International Council of the New York Museum of Modern Art.
There is a frontispiece of James Fairfax ,with a dog , posing at the early Australian mansion ,Retford Park , Bowral , NSW, which he bought in 1964 and later gave to the National Trust , the magnificent building and grounds covered in the latest ABC Gardening Australia .
It is interesting to note that the house Nan Giese lived in at Myilly Point, Darwin, from 1947 , was also handed over to the National Trust .
Items from his art collection were run in Woman's Day magazine as limited print editions . Thereby hangs an interesting tale . When I was a reporter on the Sydney Morning Herald, one of the paper's car drivers opened up about the Fairfax art collection during a late night card game in the Police Rounds room .
To prepare a painting for inclusion in Woman's Day, it had to be driven to the Sungravure printery to be photographed and made ready for the printing process .
The driver said he was given a painting which was placed on the back seat , almost like a baby , and he was instructed not to go any faster than 30mph , to prevent it from sustaining damage in the event of a sudden stop .
Not aware there was a rare, valuable painting aboard , some motorists became angry, honked their horns , gave him the finger . Despite the strict instructions issued at the outset , he sped along.
I attended the first auction held by Christie's , London, in Sydney and when an Australian painting from the James Fairfax collection ,which included works by Donald Friend , was offered , it was knocked down for a healthy sum. However, a member of the audience complained that he still had his hand up to bid . Bidding reopened, and it eventually sold for several thousand bucks more . Lucky James .
He was , however, not so lucky just before Christmas 1969 when two nuns , out for a spin , ran into his car at Bowral and he sustained six broken ribs and a punctured lung.
In an unkind account of the accident , a showbiz reporter told me that James probably thought he was in Heaven when he came to at the accident site and found himself craddled by a nun, beseeching him not to die . The nuns involved in the crash were nicknamed the Frisky Sisters in the book .
Thursday, May 13, 2021
GIANTS OF THE NORTHERN MEDIA JUNGLE
While mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow , whopper trees connected with a colourful chapter in Darwin's publishing history are reaching for the heavens .
Recent photograph of Sandra Byrnes at Arnhem Nursery, Humpty Doo , with a massive ficus, which she placed as a small potplant in the boisterious office of the independent newspaper , the Darwin Star , which challenged the Murdoch owned Northern Territory News .
One of the editors of the paper, the late Peter Blake , who had a green thumb of sorts , gave Sandra a small tree he had started growing in a container before he departed for New York , and it is also in the nursery , having grown ,above, considerably.
By Peter Simon
The business first began as a printery and after Cyclone Tracy started the Darwin Star , named after the blood and guts tabloid , Hong Kong Star , on which Blake had worked .
There is an unusual memorial to Sandra's late husband, Kerry , at the nursery. His many important tasks at the newspaper included removing the frog , named George , from the ladies toilet who made sitters scream. George also had a gourmet food column named after him .
Kerry's memorial ends with a strong message : "Plant trees, just replace what you cut down shitheads!"
Sandra recalled some of the newspaper days when I visited Darwin earlier this year . She still has the the first framed edition of the paper in her bedroom .
Stored away are copies of the satirical newspapers Troppo and The Fannie Bay Whisper.
They were produced by Peter BLake and included nude photos from Sydney's King Cross Whisper which took the nation by storm, co-founded by Pete's brother, Terry, and Jim Ramsay ,the latter arriving in Darwin while on a "Murdoch leper list " for having written an article upsetting Australia's international golfing champion, Peter Thompson .
It was sad to learn that one of the many talented employees at the Darwin Star , American Toni Gragg ,nee Kelly , is not in the best of health and in hospital . She was said to have been the daughter of a high ranking naval officer and had been employed in US Navy public relations , at Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban missile crisis .
While she may have felt tense during the Cuban crisis, it would not have been as threatening as the time she was a passenger in a light aircraft on a special trip organised by Kerry Byrnes in which the pilot anxiously tapped the dashboard gauges , found he was very low on fuel . So low, that we landed in Darwin , an alarm ringing within the plane , with fire engines running alongside .
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