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. )