From the Little Darwin jumbled files come extracts from the October 20,1945 last issue of Mulga , a news sheet which was produced for troops in Alice Springs during WWll. It provided a wide range of information and even included tips for interstate horse races.
It had started about four years previously when the Army Amenities Officer , Captain C .J. White, decided a daily, single-sided news sheet should be produced, called Daily News Sheet . A competition was held for an apt title, Mulga selected .
It was essentially an Army paper turned out on a duplicator . As such it was undesirable to express any form of political opinion in the pages. Because of this, many interesting articles and news items which would have appeared in an ordinary newspaper did not get a run .
Mulga , with a staff of four or five , appeared six days a week, with double issues three times a week .Subjects covered the local Sunday sporting events and the latest " racing gossip" from Melbourne and Sydney .
There was an occasional book review and articles from overseas magazines were reprinted. Overseas news and home news always took pride of place .The last edition paid tribute to two race tipsters "Gloming" and his successor , "Beauford", said to be as good as many southern papers .They were George Newman from the Military Post Office and Sergeant Cliff Werner of the 25 Employment Company .
News from Home , in the last edition, started by the race tips , included a short piece stating Dominion Monarch of the Shaw Savill Line was due in Perth that day with service personnel returning from the islands .
Another one of note reported that the Minister for Defence , Mr Beasley, had stated his department was not directly concerned with the Court of Inquiry by three generals into Lieutenant-General Gordon Bennett's escape from Singapore. It had been ordered by the Commander-in-Chief, General Blamey.The report would be submitted to the department .
