A library full of surprises
Two women smile from a photo atop a bookcase , part of the wide ranging military section in the Genealogical Society of the Northern Territory research room in Darwin. The person on the right is the late Edna Joyce Pratt, a GSNT member , with a great interest in the two world wars , who donated a large number of the books .
The other person is an unnamed Japanese woman Edna met while attending a Thai-Burma Railway anniversary in Thailand . They became close friends , kept in contact, and met several times in Thailand in connection with their joint interest in the WWll Death Railway .
Edna's late husband survived the brutal construction of the 420 kilometre railway forced through by the Japanese in 1943 which claimed the lives of about 60,000 Allied prisoners of war and 200,000 Asian labourers .
An honorary member of the GSNT,Edna Pratt (9/ll/1930-9/10/2010), a dedicated researcher , indexed Northern Territory newspapers and was described as being passionate about military research, with considerable knowledge of the two world wars.
Included in the library's militaria section are some WWll copies of Guinea Gold, the newspaper produced in New Guinea for Australian and American troops , which featured in a recent Little Darwin post .
GSNT"s Secretary and Public Officer , June Tomlinson , said she once had an almost complete run of Guinea Gold newspapers , given to her by a man who had asked her if she would be interested in his "New Guinea papers". Unfortunately, they had been blown away in Cyclone Tracy .
