Riddled with bookworm , this is the cover of an unusual 1909 ( new and revised ) edition of The Little Black Princess of the Never -Never by Mrs Aeneas Gunn , also author of another NT classic , We of the Never - Never ( see Devanny post below ), which probably came from an early passenger ship’s library , possibly the Eastern and Australian Steamships Company , seeing as it carries attached details of shipping services passing through Port Darwin.
The shipping information reads as follows...ADELAIDE TO PORT DARWIN : Means of transit is by the fine Interstate Steamers from Port Adelaide to Sydney, thence by steamers beautifully equipped for the Australian, Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, China, and Japan trade. These steamers leave Sydney about every three weeks. If preferred , the journey from Adelaide to Sydney can be made by express train. UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE TO PORT DARWIN: Port Darwin can be reached from the East via Vancouver or San Francisco , or from the West, via Singapore.
The book is kept in a depressing Little Darwin quarantine station – a sealed bag containing old books , some dealing with early New Zealand , which have been savaged by bookworms. Just when it seems the worms have all been killed by fumigation, fresh signs emerge that some blighters have survived and are going about their devastating work. Published by Hodder and Stoughton , London, 107pp, the book is illustrated with interesting black and white photographs of Bett–Bett ( the so called princess) , Elsey Station , a crocodile, fire sticks, an Aborigine in the classic figure four stance, a rock painting , groups of people , dilly bags and other implements, several of Bett-Bett’s uncle-“King Goggle Eye”.The author, Melbourne schoolteacher, Jeannie Taylor, before she married Aeneas Gunn , went to live at Elsey , a 31 year-old bride , in February 1902 , her husband dying from malarial fever. She acknowledges the help of W.Holtze, of Katherine, in posing and photographing groups of natives for the book. The Princess became Mrs Dolly Bonson who died in March l988 at the age of 95.
