Following the rejection by the Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory board of the offer of an award winning unusual piece of artwork inspired by Australian Rules footballer Michael Long's long march for Indigenous justice to Canberra , comes news that the National Portrait Gallery, strangely, also knocked back the offer of the unique rendition , shown here , of prominent Darwin based journalist and author Douglas Lockwood.
Lockwood's journalist son , Kim , of Melbourne , said that last year he wrote to the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, offering the above portrait of his father . It received the same response as the Michael Long item, which had been made and offered by Darwin agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith. In a polite but firm letter , the National Portrait Gallery had said it did not "meet their criteria ."
Douglas Lockwood , above, born 1918 , covered a large part of North Australia when he was the Melbourne Herald representative based in Darwin , there when it was attacked by the Japanese , won the London Evening News 1250 pound prize for the World's Strangest Story about Bas Wie , a 12 year old boy , kicked by a cook, who stowed away inside the wheel nacelle of a Dutch Dakota which flew from Dutch Koepang to Darwin , a three hour flight in August 1946.
The retracting wheel laid bare his shoulder blade , Bas became unconscious and suffered burns from the exhaust. On landing at Darwin , he was found hanging in the nacelle .The story has been told here previously how the people of Darwin firmly said authorities should not send him back to Koepang after medical treatment . He resided in Government House at the request the Northern Territory Administrator , Mick Driver .
Lockwood , who wrote 12 popular books about the Territory, some translated into at least four languages , included one dealing with the bombing of the Darwin , was managing editor of Herald and Weekly Times publications in Papua New Guinea, which he amalgamated into the first national paper , The Post- Courier . He was managing editor of the Bendigo paper in Victoria when he died in 1980.
Kim provided pertinent comments about the rejected portrait : It is a terrific likeness, was made in the Northern Territory by artist Jack Goodluck , won a prize at the Darwin Show , called " Newspaper Man ", made entirely of newspaper clippings, very clever . It did not , however, meet the Gallery's criteria .
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| Newspaper Man |
Lockwood's journalist son , Kim , of Melbourne , said that last year he wrote to the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, offering the above portrait of his father . It received the same response as the Michael Long item, which had been made and offered by Darwin agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith. In a polite but firm letter , the National Portrait Gallery had said it did not "meet their criteria ."
The retracting wheel laid bare his shoulder blade , Bas became unconscious and suffered burns from the exhaust. On landing at Darwin , he was found hanging in the nacelle .The story has been told here previously how the people of Darwin firmly said authorities should not send him back to Koepang after medical treatment . He resided in Government House at the request the Northern Territory Administrator , Mick Driver .
Lockwood , who wrote 12 popular books about the Territory, some translated into at least four languages , included one dealing with the bombing of the Darwin , was managing editor of Herald and Weekly Times publications in Papua New Guinea, which he amalgamated into the first national paper , The Post- Courier . He was managing editor of the Bendigo paper in Victoria when he died in 1980.
Kim provided pertinent comments about the rejected portrait : It is a terrific likeness, was made in the Northern Territory by artist Jack Goodluck , won a prize at the Darwin Show , called " Newspaper Man ", made entirely of newspaper clippings, very clever . It did not , however, meet the Gallery's criteria .
Some time ago , Kim took up with the Darwin City Council the subject of his father not being included in the parade of notable Territorians represented in tiles along Darwin's Esplanade ... Douglas Lockwood , a reporter and author who put Darwin and the Northern Territory on the map in many ways.
