TERRITORY INFLUENCES ON AUTHOR

Recently featured  in  Northern Territory Archives    is  this   1886  Baldwin Locomotive  Works , Pennsylvania, USA,  locomotive   called the  Sandfly  that  ran  on  the  North  Australia  Railway  , which  author  Xavier  Herbert  mentioned  in  his great  l938  sesqui-centenary award  winning  novel, Capricornia .

The  Sandfly  first came to his notice  when he  went to Darwin-Port Zodiac in Capricornia -in  1927, picking up ideas for a novel along the way . In 1959,  Sandfly was relocated to South Australia  for restoration and display.It was   later returned to the NT as a gift to commemorate the completion of  the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway  in  2005.

By  Peter  Simon 

In another  Xavier Herbert follow up , in  Darwin , last year ,  agronomist Robert  Wesley- Smith slipped me a brown  paper packet in the Friday Club containing  interesting   newspaper  cuttings  from his  files,  relating  to   Herbert  and  a   close  Territory  friend  ,  Val  (Valentine)  McGinness  .    

  

Val's  treasury of memories ,written  shortly after  his death ,  included  some details about  his  long  relationship  with Herbert. It   said  a  gramophone player  had   been  one  of   his  prized  possessions .

  

As luck would have  it, I  had those  cuttings with me when I went to the  Northern Territory Geneological Society  in Darwin  and  one of the  research volunteers   , related to Val,   said   he   even  made his own   needles  for  the  beloved  wind  up   gramophone .

Xavier Herbert  told  me   that  Val , with whom he had  gone  prospecting  in  the  l930s, was  very  inventive.  In 1950, when  Herbert was  learning to  flying , he met up with Val in Cairns  , and told  him  how  expensive   were  the  flying  lessons.

Val had seriously suggested  building  a plane  to   overcome  this  problem. Herbert  crashed  a  Tiger Moth .

Herbert  also  remarked on  the  fact that  Val  often  addressed  abandoned  machinery  out  in  the bush as being  animate ,  calling  them poor old  things , suggesting  they  could  be  repaired ,  be  brought back  to life.

His undoubted skill with machinery  is evident  by the fact that  he had worked on the Batavia goldfield, been the chief engineer for a pearling company  with three luggers  and  during WWll  the Army made him a mechanic with the  Allied Works Council , Cairns .  

He had also been  a  partner  in   a  motor repair business ,where he wryly reported he  did  all the  hard work and  got very little  financial reward.

Herbert  went  to Mareeba  to  see Val's son, Johnny, the Queensland  light welterweight boxing champion,take  on  a  top Brisbane  fighter, resulting in Xavier  writing    a   short  story ,Come on Murri! , without informing  Val. 

In l981, I drew Val's attention to the story .When he started  to read  it, he began to roar with laughter, slapped his leg , said it  was "Johnny". He provided  further details of   the  fight.