In post-WWll Darwin , there were many dire shortages-building materials, electrical appliances , even vital supplies of beer shipped in from interstate , women and flags .The patriotic ABC broadcasting office lamented the fact that it did not have an Australian flag to fly above its premises . It applied to have the flag dangling from outside the hostel for single women in government employment -Marrenah House-known as the Virgins' Retreat. This rare bulk store of females was invaded by visiting sailors off American ships when directed there by naughty waterside workers.Peeping toms were a problem as well,one bloke claiming he was stumbling about looking for a rare moth that only came out at night .The ABC was left naked flag-wise , its request rejected.However, the flag disappeared soon after -probably souvenired by a Yank.
Monday, August 31, 2020
Sunday, August 30, 2020
GOVERNOR FLEES OUTBREAK
Rare postcard depicting Lord Islington, fifteenth governor of New Zealand , leaving Wellington in 1910 after a suspected outbreak of typhoid, a quarantine flag flying over Government House. Artwork by leading political cartoonist Trevor Lloyd, from a unique North Queensland collection.
DISHEVELLED ANGEL IN PORT
Even though incapacitated , our Shipping Reporter, the only one north of Lavender Bay, arranged a member of his family to take this shot of a bulk carrier with an unusual name ,Sea Angel, flying
under the Marshall Islands flag, in the port of Townsville , part of
the Ghost Fleet which passes in and out with very little attention by the
local media. Could be an interesting story behind its name? Once flying
under the flag of India , It was in port during the title fight and
is now heading for Korea .
Saturday, August 29, 2020
WENCHING , BOOZING AND CANOODLING POPULAR AT UNIVERSITIES
One of our runners picked up a batch of interesting records including bawdy German university songs at a Townsville garage sale , a cuckoo clock also on offer . In a discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on Australian universities, it was stated that there is little activity on campus , libraries are terribly quiet , no whispering or canoodling going on . On being told this, Phillip Adams of the ABC's Late Night Live said he missed out going to uni, but now might enrol to major in canoodling . Would his pacemaker stand the strain?
SHIPPING REPORTER CROAKS
Believe it or not , our waterfont roundsman has been
medically branded an amphibian , a frog ! The strange saga began when he again experienced extreme pain in his
right leg , as if impaled by the tusk of a narwhale , or attacked by enraged
Moby Dick ,and flown to Townsville University Hospital in an Italian helicopter
.
Under the influence of drugs , he vows and declares Frosty the Snowman
was standing by a rail of his bed early one morning
!!!!
There he moaned about the air conditioning , demanded heaps
of blankets , no doubt causing the prison laundry which services the
hospital to rock around the clock on a double shift, and was
diagnosed by nursing staff and medicos
as a"cold frog."When he donned a beanie at night a nearby
patient , who sleeps without blankets, called him in an Eskimo. Ha,
ha.
On the positive side, as his fame spreads as a relative of celebrity frog Kermit , a dateless , desperate and sight impaired princess seeking Prince
Charming , visiting the hospital, might kiss him,
probably resulting in an outbreak of warts on her
lips.
Despite the fact that that his career as
the only shipping reporter north of Gabo Island keeps him busy,he is seriously thinking of moonlighting as a MKR food writer, like the talented frog , Gourmet George,who penned a lively tucker column for the Darwin Sun newspaper,named after the Hong Kong Sun, the column title inspired by a frog in the office toilet who tickled female staff members when they sat down , causing them to scream .
