With this blogs deep interest in the Northern Territory and its capital, Darwin , a circa l919 silver gelatin Kodak Austral print , attributed to Percy Brown , of a Chinese procession in the city , stood out .
It took part in Cavenagh Street , the heart of Chinatown , where author Xavier Herbert once lived with his wife, Sadie, on premises next to Gee Fong Ming's café . Their residence, said to have been a former Chinese gambling den , included a collection of Aboriginal spears, arranged as a display .
They were living there when word came through that Xavier's novel Capricornia had been awarded the 1938 250 pound Sesqui-Centenary Prize. Xavier ,although a pharmacist, was working as a waterside worker in Darwin at the time and greeted the news of his win by organising a wild three-day party, open to all and sundry .
Information supplied with the photograph mentions a nearby building, the Don Stadium , in which many fights took place . It was also the venue for lively union meetings , basketball matches , one team Chinese .
Little Darwin's Northern Territory photograph collection includes the following view of a dragon in a Chinese New Year Procession in Cavenagh Street from the archive of the late Vern O'Brien in the Northern Territory Genealogical Society .
The Douglas Stewart offering includes a century old glass negative of "Vegetable John ", a Brisbane Chinese market gardener with baskets .
