CAPRICORNIA BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE

 

The remarkable Northern Territory identity, the late Nellie Flynn, toting  a shotgun , is  the  distinctive  , stand out  person  on  the  cover  of  a  foldout map  obtained  in  a  Darwin  Aboriginal  art  shop, the text story by a grandson  , John Scrutton , opposed to fracking ,  the  artwork  by  Robyn Francis .

Both Nellie   and her  Irish  husband , railway ganger  Tom  Flynn,were   characters  in  Xavier  Herbert's  1938   Sesquicentenary Award  winning  novel ,Capricornia , inspired  by  his  experiences   in  the  Northern  Territory  

In  her case, she was the "halfcaste"  dubbed the  Bloody  Parakeet  in  the  novel  because  of  the  bright  clothes  she  wore .

 By  Peter  Simon

In  l980 , Xavier , 80,  came to Darwin  and  I  drove him   about  the  Top  End and  down  to   Alice Springs   to   help  him   gain  ideas  for  another  novel   about  the  Territory .

We  went   to  the  old  Darwin Hospital   and   called on   Nellie Flynn , then 100 . It was  about  the  time  of  the beef  substitution scandal . Nellie told  Xavier  she  had stopped  buying  bullock  tongues  several years  previously  because  she  said  they  were   from   horses .

As we came away from visiting  her  , Xavier   cruelly  said : " See, she still  dresses  like  a  bloody  parakeet."

In her  80s, the  indomitable  Nelie    took  part  in  the  Northern Territory News  Walkabout , a  popular  annual race involving walking more than 15 miles , ending  outside   the   newspaper  office . 

The idea for the race was  picked up by Kiwi journalist , the late Les Wilson, while drinking  in  a  Darwin pub with a  public servant - Jimmy  Wadsworth-who  had  taken  part  in  walking  events  in  Hong  Kong. 

Wilson wrote him up as  Walking  Jimmy Wadsworth . In 1968, Wadsworth set out  from Darwin  to walk to Perth -a distance of 2875 miles .

Because  Nellie  Flynn was  such a hit  in the  Walkabout ,Wilson  called  on  her  down in  Batchelor , where  she and Tom  had   lived , as  early  as  1910 , on  a  farm , to  which  Herbert  had  been  invited  back  in  the   late  1920s .

Wilson   found   Nellie   cementing   the   inside  of   a   leaking   water  tank  when he  arrived   at  the  farm and  told  me  what  an  amazing   woman   she was .  On  breaking  a  hip , she  moved  to   Darwin  and   died  at  the age  of  101. 

NEXT: A  surprise package   handed  over at  the Friday Club  in  Darwin's  Noodle  House  leads  to  more  fascinating   links  with  Capricornia  and other  people   of   interest .