* As Crocodile Dundee would say, your wimpy croc is not a croc; this is a real croc.- From Little Darwin's collection of true Territory tales .
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Long before Sydney radio announcer John Laws became famous for his golden tonsils and microphone, Darwin had a multi media personality who , with a guttural accent , was nicknamed “The Voice”, and declared there was no news in the truth . He was lanky Bob Freeden, a refugee from Nazi Germany, who more than 50 years ago cashed in on stories about crocodiles , snakes and buffaloes running and slithering about in Darwin.
A correspondent for southern newspapers, he realised there was an insatiable demand for offbeat stories about marauding wildlife, so did what is known in the trade as beat ups.This infuriated Darwin based Melbourne Herald reporter and author , Doug Lockwood, who received calls from head office wanting to know why they had not received a matching story. Exasperated ,Lockwood would state no buffalo had dashed down Smith Street into Cashman’s, scattering the locals. Shame, they would say in Melbourne, it makes a good read in opposition papers. Ruth Lockwood informed this writer Bob Freeden had been a source of continual annoyance to her husband .
Freeden’s parents fled to WA and Bob obtained a position with MacRobertson Miller Airlines ,at some stage posted to Darwin. Pilots and passengers would come in with colourful outback stories, and he began writing them for southern newspapers. The more offbeat the story, the better the run and the greater the demand for similar yarns.
Soon he was supplying stories and feature articles to a wide range of outlets. Diana’s Diary , a column in the union owned Northern Standard mentioned Freeden at times, and called him “ The Voice” . In the late 1940s he stood out in Darwin, a large figure zooming about on a motorbike .
When the ABC opened up its Darwin newsroom in March 1951, Freeden was engaged as an assistant to the newly appointed regional journalist. Another ABC regional journalist with whom he had close contact was English reporter John Crew . Because of his English accent , Freeden called him "Pommie Crew " , who responded by calling Bob , “Freeden Fritzel”. Freeden’s sister,Shirley, came up from Perth on a visit and became a nurse at Darwin Hospital.
Snakes, buffaloes and crocodiles featured in a September 1951 Australian Women’s Weekly article Freeden wrote about what was billed as Darwin’s first agricultural show in 45 years . A competitor in the woodchopping turned up barefooted –minus one big toe,lost in a previous woodchopping event . Lettuce were as big cabbages and cabbages were twice the normal size, he wrote. A prize winning bunch of bananas weighed 80lb and contained more than 200 fingers. On display was a photograph of a stainless steel knife riddled by white ants. Freeden certainly had an eye for the unusual. Soon he was driving a car .
Because he was so prominent in the Darwin media world and well known down south , he became involved with the group which started the Northern Territory News and was its manager for a period. According to intelligence provided Little Darwin, some of Freeden’s mail from Sydney , including one letter instructing him to sack the editor, was steamed open and read .
When Freeden moved to Sydney he was involved with the influential PR consultant Eric White. White and political reporter Don Whitington had been key players in the establishment of the NT News and the Mt Isa Mail, both later bought by Rupert Murdoch. Freeden did PR work for TAA, the government airline and was instrumental in the appointment of Jim Bowditch, editor of the Centralian Advocate at the time , to the position as NT News editor.
While drinking with Bowditch, Freeden often declared, “There is no nooz in the twoof.”By this profound statement , he was reaffirming that newspapers just love beat up wildlife stories.Freeden also interviewed me in a Sydney TAA office for a position as a journalist on the News. My appointment letter said accommodation would be provided-"primitive as it is" - in the NT News tin bank building in Smith Street.
A large python once slithered in through an opening at the back of the News while Timmy Forday, a linotype operator, later known as Tim the Toy Man, at Parap , was doing his washing . One of the staff loaded a spearfishing gun and let fly at the snake , smashing a fibro sheet in the shower / toilet recess, which caused the large colony of green frogs who resided therein ,enjoying the leaking plumbing, to croak loudly in nervous protest .
Freeden went from success to success in business .He started his own PR firm and began a string of trade publications ,one being Travel Talk, subscription business newsletters, cashed in early on dial up for information on a wide range of things ,including recipes and prayers.
Clients of his included airlines , Coca-Cola, Union Carbide and a Scandinavian car company . Something of a car buff, it is said he once had two Jaguars in his garage. When holidaying in Sydney, Jim and Betty Bowditch spent much time with the Freedens; Mrs Freeden had worked at Darwin Hospital. Much to everyone’s surprise , Jim arrived back in Darwin from Sydney driving a plush ex- embassy limo which it is believed Freeden had arranged for him. Jim reluctantly sold the car, saying he needed the money.
During a business trip to Canada ,Freeden visited a museum in an early town and saw an old printing press which was exactly the same as one which used to clank away in the NT News in the tin bank days.
