MURDER ? / CAPRICORNIA / HIPPIES

Esteemed  readers  of   this  blog  are  aware  that   Darwin agronomist and   activist  Robert Wesley-Smith  has  fabulous, wide ranging  files  which include  historic  photos, newspaper  clippings , postcards,  ephemera , items from  which   have  been  run  in  Little  Darwin .

You  never  know what  to  expect  when    Wesley-Smith sends  you an email , often with a range of  unusual material  .   We  did a  double  take  recently   when  we opened up  a message  and found on close examination what  looked   like  a  grotesque ,  bloodied  brain  on  the  bow  of  a  canoe in  a spooky  location .   Please  explain , Wes. 

Turns out it  is not a murder scene , but  a  photo he  took  exploring the  rapidly  rising  wetlands on  his rural  property  and  the  object on  the  bow  is   foam  filling  he  used to patch up  all the  vessel's  holes , to  prevent a TItanic  event .  A  child  going for  a  ride in  the  canoe  shrieked  in  horror  when   she  spotted  the  red  blob . 

 A  recent  Wes  special   included  the  above   map of   Capricornia  from an exhibition  for  the  book of the  same  name , about the Northern Territory , by Xavier Herbert   , which won  the   l938 Sesqui-Centenary  Award ,  and an  old clipping  about   journalist / author  Douglas Lockwood  and  his wife, Ruth . 

 

No sooner   had we   inspected this material  than  , from another source, came a  story written by the   Northern Territory  Library , about the   time  when  many  hippies  passed through  Darwin on the  so-called  hippie  route  to  and  from  Asia .

The  hippies congregated at  Lameroo Beach  , not far from the Darwin CBD, and  even built  houses in  the  waterfront  trees  , it  becoming  known as  the Royal Lameroo Hotel , evacuated when the Wet arrived,  the   rough  dwellings  subject  of   an  essay  by   architect  Peter  Dermoudy .

We seem to   recall  that  a hippy  girl  who  flew   into   Darwin from Portuguese Timor had  attracted the  attention of a Customs officer  when  something   was  noticed  jumping about under  her   floppy dress . Questioned , she  said it  was  "her baby " - a young monkey  she  had bought -- and  begged  officials  not  to   impound  it .   

The  Library article  on hippies   surprisingly  listed  Wesley-Smith as one of its  sources of information .  Naturally, we    asked  him   to explain  his   connection with  hippies.   Seems  he was not aware of the  particular    report ,  but  admitted   he wrote a letter to the  Northern Territory News  likening  the impact of   hippies   on   Lameroo   as  being  similar to  cattle overstocking   grazing  land.

While  it  might be okay for  50 hippies to gather   wood  from  local trees and build   houses , the  impact  of   200  wood  gathers   was   undesirable .