VALE SANDRA BYRNES

 A woman who played  a big  part  in   Darwin 's printing   and  newspaper  industry  , a   well  known  plant   nursery  and   the   promotion  of   pottery , Sandra  Byrnes , has   died  at  the age of  76.   

She  is  shown holding the mounted , framed and autographed July 1,1976 ,  first  edition of  the  weekly independent  Darwin newspaper, The Star, that she and  her late  husband , Kerry, started, which challenged the Murdoch owned  Northern Territory  News .

The Star  was so successful  that  a number of  southern  media  organisations  and  some strange organisations  made  approaches  to become involved or  buy  it  out .  

Sandra recalled   the  Sydney based  Jewish journalist , PR , politician  and  organiser  of Royal Tours and Papal Visits , Sir Asher Joel , had made a strong approach  through one of his companies, Carpentaria Newspapers Pty. Ltd. ,  Mount  Isa  .  The  Sydney Morning Herald was also another to have " sniffed  about ." 

Astonishly, she received  a  telephone call  indicating a   desire to buy the paper from  Frank Nugan , founding principal of  the   Nugan Hand Bank , later revealed   as  a  CIA  front  dealing in drugs ,guns and  money laundering .

An Australian lawyer, Nugan , said to have been involved with the Mafia in  Griffith , possibly linked to the disappearance of Griffith politician Donald Mackay ,  was found shot dead in his Mercedes on January 7 ,1980, at Lithgow, NSW .  A bible with the name  William Colby , a former director of the CIA,  was  found in  the car .

At  Nugan's inquest , his partner in the  bank , Michael Jon Hand, a former  US Green  Beret , who had served in Vietnam ,  said the bank was insolvent, owed  at  least $50million .

Then he flew out of Australia on false identity papers to Fiji in June 1980, after destroying Nugan Hand’s records , and has not been seen since .  As a CIA operative, it  was said he probably reentered the US and was given a new identity.

 Following  Cyclone Tracy,  Sandra and  Kerry Byrnes   used   a  solvent  to  remove  laundry  floor tiles  which  had  been damaged in  the    tempest . The   fumes  ignited  and   Sandra  was engulfed in  flames .  Kerry  rushed in , grabbed her ,  carried her  to  the car  and  set off  for the hospital , his    burnt    bare feet   sticking  to  the   pedals .  

Discharged  from  hospital, she was back at  work at  the   printery  two weeks  later .   

The Star was eventually   sold  to  South Australian  trucking  magnate   Allan  Scott  , of Mount Gambier  , who had   media  interests, hotels, shopping centres and cattle properties, leaving behind a  $600million fortune, the subject of  a  family legal battle . The Star  was   sold to   Murdoch.

After  selling to Scott, Sandra and  Kerry , who conducted   a gardening  show on  the ABC,  then  ran and  lived in  the  Arnhem Nursery   at  Humpty Doo ,   Darwin, staged   annual pottery  fairs . They  maintained contact with    Melbourne  , publisher, journalist ,   former ALP politician   and  activist, Pete  Steedman , who  had  suggested  they  should start  a   newspaper,  when  he  saw many journalists   congregating  at   their  printery ,which produced gardening magazines ,  a range of  newsletters  , after    Cyclone  Tracy.

The paper got its name from the  Hong Kong Star , where one of its talented  editors, the late Peter  Blake , who  went  to  America  and was  employed  on the  New York  Post ,   had  previously   worked .