North of Alice Springs , the Tennant Creek Cemetery , at the red centre of Australia , contains many graves of
interest which reflect
pastoral and mining days of the district. One which stands out is that of Edwin Owen Elmore Lewis , nicknamed the
Red Roan , and even though a “
Death Adder” , said to be likeable .
In the Northern Territory , a Death Adder was
a term applied to
gnarled, crotchety codgers, who could turn nasty , but really weren’t
bad buggers, all generally having led tough lives . At another mining
town , Pine Creek , south of Darwin , there were several such gentlemen , one named Cranky Franky Atkinson , with whom I went
digging for bottles and Chinese
artefacts . His complaint was that a lot of modern people regarded picking up a shovel and doing some hard work as being like taking hold of a poisonous black snake. The Pine
Creek DAs, one a Russian , used to gather at Ah Toy’s famous store
on pension day and shoot the wind .
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Punched out of a piece of sheet metal, this unusual gravestone for Edwin Lewis is decorated with a cowbell and spurs.
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The headstone for Keith Allan
Cowan, only 26 when he died in 1957, states
he was the son of a hard working , hard drinking
miner, see plaque below with details of an unfortunate but eventful life , which included being evacuated from Darwin before the Japanese bombing . It contains fond memories by brother Ian who mentions Keith's skill at assembling Meccano kits.
In the case of
miner , musician and painter ,
William Henry Charles Fullwood , who emigrated from England circa 1912 , he humped the bluey around the nation , including the Depression period, mining,
shooting, wood cutting, bore running , boundary riding , camp cook, rock
breaking. From
1942-1945 , he was in the RAAF where he was an armourer for Beaufort
Bombers, serving in New Guinea at Milne
Bay, Goodenough Island , Aitape and other places. 
After
the war, he was a contractor in Tennant Creek, working on various mines in the district including Noble's Nob. In the 1956
explosion and fire at Campbell’s
garage and store in Tennant Creek , which destroyed most of the business centre , he received bad burns , a fractured pelvis , leg and internal injuries. Northern
Territory policeman Sergeant Jim Mannion was decorated
for bravery after he
rushed into the inferno to check that nobody had been trapped inside .
Fullwood's
tombstone , right , states he was a self taught
musician who could play the
banjo, mandolin , organ and piano
accordion. He painted town murals , portraits and local landscapes. A member
of several community organisations, he
was awarded the Order of Australia Medal. His grave displays a photo of him with a musical instrument and a pathway seeming to show models depicting aspects of his life - the ship that brought him to Australia, a crossed pick and shovel , the head of a mine or bore , a plane from the war days and what could be an artist's easel.
