One of the Lion City's numerous attractions is the Raffles Hotel and its famous Singapore Gin Sling created by Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915.
To add to the many places of interest , Little Darwin seriously suggests a plaque should be placed in the Changi airport commemorating the fact that Darwin agronomist , Robert Wesley-Smith , aka Rural Rebel Rob , gave a command performance there long ago , which was like something out of the memorable movie Casablanca in which Humphrey Bogart instructed Sam to play a tune one more time on a piano .
Flying in from the Philippines , Wesley-Smith spent about a day and a half waiting for a connecting flight to Darwin .
He stuck his nose inside Raffles Hotel , just to be able to say he had been there . But he did not down a Singapore Sling or two because he was a clean- living teetotaler at the time .
In the airport lounge a pianist entertained passengers. Wesley-Smith recognised a tune , and being a member of a prominent musical family , which helped Kamahl early in his career , started to sing .
The pianist-name unknown- immediately stopped playing , called Wes up to perform . The name of the song cannot be remembered . There apparently was no spontaneous applause after he performed his Singapore sing along.
While mixing with the crusading editor of the Northern Territory News , "Big Jim " Bowditch, and other reporters, Wes eventually sampled demon grog.
Now he can be tempted with a drop of wine while attending the influential Friday Club in Darwin's Noodle House . It is not known if he has ever serenaded the Friday Club .
Just this week, Little Darwin over indulged, snaffled three books on the Raffles Hotel. In one, headed Secrets of a Grand Old Lady, by Austrian writer Andreas Augustin, it stated Raffles is the largest consumer of gin in the world-20,160 bottles a year.
