It is a shame that the late Arthur Wright , linotype operator at the Northern Standard and Northern Territory News,did not write a book. His knowledge about early Darwin politics , unions, newspapers and pioneer aviators was impressive. One memorable story he told me illustrated how tough it was during the Depression. It involved Sally “ The Hobo Queen ” who passed through Darwin while tramping about the nation with her husband desperately seeking work .
Three days after her Adelaide marriage in 1929 , Sally’s husband lost his job in a pottery . Sally , a Scot, in her early 20s , and husband , Bob Hallerhead, 29, who had been gassed in WW1 and had come to Australia to "clear his lungs", were forced to hit the road to look for work as the economy went into free fall. She wore a pair of her husband’s cut down trousers and they had 3/9 (39cents) in the kitty .
Their trek became something of a national travelogue with newspapers reporting the movements of the woman dubbed the Hobo Queen. One report in the Longreach Leader , Queensland, December 5,1930 ,was headed : BRIDE’S 3000 MILE TREK / ACCOMPANYING HUSBAND IN VAIN SEARCH FOR WORK/ ADELAIDE TO LONGREACH ON FOOT / SALLY THE HOBO QUEEN /PRISON CELLS THAT WERE ELYSIUM .
It told of their experiences along the track and in cities , at times being put up in police cells ,encounters with snakes, jumping the rattler , meeting other bagmen . Sally, the paper said, had cried twice, once from blistered feet and in memory of her mother when she passed a country cemetery and saw her family name on a tombstone. The couple sang songs , paraphrased the one about it being a long, long way to Tipperary and made up others.
After tramping about the nation , they lobbed in Darwin in June 1931 , having covered 6000 miles, their arrival mentioned in southern newspapers. At the time Arthur Wright told me about the Hobo Queen , he said nobody in Darwin would probably know about her,so much of the Territory’s past being forgotten ,which is so true. For example, there is a photo of Arthur in the NT Library photo collection , but he is wrongly named.
Arthur held firm views about the distribution of wealth and social justice. Born in a tent in WA in 1910 , he came to the NT in 1920 with his father who went to work in the Pine Creek goldfield . At 14 he became an apprentice at the union owned Northern Standard newspaper . A keen athlete, he boxed , rowed , cycled and in late life went for long walks . Arthur’s wife, Pat, worked in the book binding section at the News .
Three days after her Adelaide marriage in 1929 , Sally’s husband lost his job in a pottery . Sally , a Scot, in her early 20s , and husband , Bob Hallerhead, 29, who had been gassed in WW1 and had come to Australia to "clear his lungs", were forced to hit the road to look for work as the economy went into free fall. She wore a pair of her husband’s cut down trousers and they had 3/9 (39cents) in the kitty .
Their trek became something of a national travelogue with newspapers reporting the movements of the woman dubbed the Hobo Queen. One report in the Longreach Leader , Queensland, December 5,1930 ,was headed : BRIDE’S 3000 MILE TREK / ACCOMPANYING HUSBAND IN VAIN SEARCH FOR WORK/ ADELAIDE TO LONGREACH ON FOOT / SALLY THE HOBO QUEEN /PRISON CELLS THAT WERE ELYSIUM .
It told of their experiences along the track and in cities , at times being put up in police cells ,encounters with snakes, jumping the rattler , meeting other bagmen . Sally, the paper said, had cried twice, once from blistered feet and in memory of her mother when she passed a country cemetery and saw her family name on a tombstone. The couple sang songs , paraphrased the one about it being a long, long way to Tipperary and made up others.
After tramping about the nation , they lobbed in Darwin in June 1931 , having covered 6000 miles, their arrival mentioned in southern newspapers. At the time Arthur Wright told me about the Hobo Queen , he said nobody in Darwin would probably know about her,so much of the Territory’s past being forgotten ,which is so true. For example, there is a photo of Arthur in the NT Library photo collection , but he is wrongly named.
Arthur held firm views about the distribution of wealth and social justice. Born in a tent in WA in 1910 , he came to the NT in 1920 with his father who went to work in the Pine Creek goldfield . At 14 he became an apprentice at the union owned Northern Standard newspaper . A keen athlete, he boxed , rowed , cycled and in late life went for long walks . Arthur’s wife, Pat, worked in the book binding section at the News .
