Flashback
– Nelly Flynn , who inspired a character
in Xavier Herbert’s 1938 award winning Territory novel , Capricornia , a tiny figure
strides along with a relative from the Darwin Hospital in a Smith Street parade near the Vic Hotel public bar , demolished
and turned into the present arcade . The truck behind has
a sign highlighting the accommodation class distinction in the city . The Bagot
Aboriginal compound has huts ;
Housing Commission houses are
hotboxes ; public servants- represented
by the long white sock , which they wore
- have
tropically designed houses on stilts
, hot water, come provided with furniture
and the rent is low .
***********************************************
Over
more than a century there have been
many marches –not only on
May Day-in the NT. One march by angry unionists and others saw Government House stormed
and the
first Administrator appointed under Commonwealth control , Dr Gilruth ,
hastily leave town on a gunboat. The situation in Darwin
was described as a rebellion . A
judge and two others
in high office were also
ordered to leave town by the next
boat, which they did . An
episode which inflamed the Territorians was
the revelation that there was a
proposal to sell the entire NT to Vesteys
, the British
meat barons . Times have changed –the whole of Australia
is just about up for sale today
.
Photographs exist of
early marches in Darwin , one involving
1000 ; interestingly, placards
carried
covered various concerns , one being an
early medical scheme proposed by a
doctor to cover workers.
The Depression saw
many marches and demonstrations,
including a wild clash with police on the verandah of the government
offices.
In
more modern times , May Day became a vehicle for airing many issues ... Aboriginal land rights , the Vietnam War , the Kulaluk land claim , uranium mining, East Timor freedom . The late Brian Manning’s Bedford
truck , involved in numerous just causes , was used in many May Day celebrations
and is still in Darwin , its future uncertain .
