LONELY PLANET, LONELY COURTROOM

The 1994 first edition of the Lonely Planet guide to OUTBACK AUSTRALIA listed Raintree Gallery, 29 Knuckey Street , Darwin, as a place to buy Aboriginal art. Today the former owner of that now non existent gallery, Shirley Collins, has a not so lonely feeling as she heads to court again in the long running case resulting from her ruinous involvement in the Bank of America Down Under Tour of the US in the lead up to the Sydney Olympic Games . At the previous hearing in the Federal Magistrates Court Collins was denied future representation by Brisbane accountant Barrie Percival in her attempt to receive a grace in favour payment from the Federal Government for her involvement in the tour, she said to have been made the "scapegoat "for shortcomings in various places connected with that event . Darwin lawyer James Matthews has taken up her case pro bono . UPDATE:The matter was further adjourned by Magistrate Toni Lucev ,with the Canberra based legal firm of BlakeDawson offering no objection , saying Matthews had not had much time to become acquainted with the involved case. Lucev, who ordered costs of $2365 against pensioner Collins in the previous hearing, after again indicating he might hit her with another poultice , left in abeyance the question of further costs .