THE AZARIA CHAMBERLAIN PAPER TRAIL

Some of the items issued in the battle to save the Chamberlains .
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With the Chamberlain coronial inquiry finding imminent, Little Darwin continues its special series about the case which attracted worldwide attention. Throughout the saga, Chamberlain support groups sprang up in all states, the ACT, NT and NZ, and issued a range of publications - booklets, fact sheets , newsletters , audio and video cassettes , poems and eventually books .

One of the organisations that campaigned hard to clear the Chamberlains of any involvement in the disappearance and death of their daughter , Azaria, at Ayers Rock , on August 17, 1980, was the Chamberlain Information Service, based at Cooranbong, NSW. It produced the AZARIA NEWSLETTER, above , edited by Nonie Hodgson, like the Chamberlains of the Seventh Day Adventist faith, which offered an assortment of items for sale to defray the cost of production and campaigning.

An item sold through the newsletter was a 90 minute cassette, Trial Witnesses Speak Out , produced by the Queensland Plea for Justice, 1984, duplicated by Calvary Communications ,Geebung, Victoria. Side one- A DINGO GOT MY BABY- contained the voices of many eye witnesses at Ayers Rock and a statement by the president of the Dingo Foundation . Side two-MALICE IN BLUNDERLAND –presented a quote from Alice Coroner Barritt, said to have been unacceptable to NT police and some other experts involved in the case. There was even a poem written for " Lindy" by Josephine Stuart put to music and heard on the tape.

The October 8, 1988 issue of RECORD, official journal of the Seventh Day Adventist Church,South Pacific Division, carried the heading THE CHAMBERLAINS CLEARED : A time to rejoice and reflect. In a thoughtful, well-written article by the associate editor, Gary Krause, he reflected on the church's image in the nation and how some were prepared to think the worst of people. He mentioned the Azaria Newsletter ..."Solomon once said that there's a time to weep, and a time to laugh. Now's the time to laugh. It's a time of rejoicing for the Chamberlains and their supporters. 'It's a great relief,' says Nonie Hodgson, editor of Azaria Newsletter. And it has been a long battle for her and other Chamberlain supporters . Nonie has been involved in the fight since the second inquest. 'I'll probably need to do only one more issue of the newsletter. But I always told myself that I'd do the newsletter until Lindy was exonerated -so that I could actually print that in the newsletter ,'she says , laughing. The right thing has finally been done. '"

NOMADS GUNNING FOR BURLEIGH !!!

Furious Grey Nomads throughout the nation are gunning for Bulldust Diary columnist/ illustrator , Peter Burleigh , following his latest Little Darwin send up of them and their luxurious mobile homes which clog the outback roads ( see post below ). The dreaded Grey Nomads Inc. Godfather has issued a fatwah against Burleigh saying he should be shot, his hide tanned and flown upside down from the mast on the poop deck of the ship of state, SS Canberra . Burleigh, who travels in a tattered pop up tent and dresses like Mahatma Gandhi in the outback , scoffed when told of the fatwah. He says he has many friends in the Melbourne underworld who will protect him from an army of vengeful Nomads.To back up his claim , he produced the drawing he did ( above ) of his old mate, the vicious Melbourne murderer, Squizzy Taylor,who got about in a flash T-model Ford , which would be the envy of every modern Grey Nomad. Nevertheless, Burleigh retreated to a bunker at Chateau Hurstbridge , where police keep a 24 hour watch on the suspicious goings on that take place there . The CIA also bugs all telephone conversations . Criminal contacts have informed Little Darwin that tough guy Burleigh , despite his bravada , will  disappear overseas on a cargo boat to escape the grey brigade , like a key figure in Frank Hardy's sensational novel, Power Without Glory .

ANOTHER NEW BROOME

( Provocative Bulldust Diary columnist / illustrator , Peter Burleigh , driving about the wide brown land, expresses more Grey Nomad envy at the pearly gates )

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Broome has become more chock-a-block with people than before, ostensibly for the long weekend. The Broome Cup is to be run. We don’t know if it’s a camel or a horse-race. The Nomads are here in their hundreds, maybe thousands, pervasive as cockroaches in a Telstra cable pit. Many wear the checked shorts and Polo shirts we associate with overweight Americans, others, preferring the rugged boundary-rider image, wear raggedy shorts and singlets with obscene messages ("Lie down, I think I love You"). A few have their pets with them. Broome is obviously a shrine on the grey pilgrimage route. The disturbing question is are we observing ourselves?

Interestingly the Nomads herd together in transit camps, and although the only difference between them is that boat people can’t leave, the incidence of brain damage and suicide caused by overcrowding is probably the same. There’s a herd mentality rather than any pioneering spirit; the vans are encapsulated slices of air-conditioned suburban houses.

Surely the point of travelling through the outback is to deliberately not re-create how we live at home - yet people spend up to $250,000 (for the biggest rigs) to have an environment that insulates them against the outdoors, complete with mood lighting, queen-size beds, stoves, refrigerator-freezers, microwave ovens, washing machine, DVD players, flat screen TVs, toasters, Nespresso machines (God, how we wish there was a portable camping version!), automatic satellite-signal-seeking TV dishes, 5.1 surround audio systems and much more.

Even tent-camping purists like us who claim the moral high ground who spend big money on arctic-capable sleeping bags, LCD outdoor lighting, special spine-friendly bedding mats, gas stoves with fold-out toasters, multi-folding tables, collapsible chairs (with beverage holders) and ecologically-sound detergent sit around and talk about "roughing it".Tourism is the blood in Broome’s veins, and so far the town has been resistant to cheap strip development. Although old-time Broomesters might disagree, I reckon Broome may well be an example to follow.

DARWIN BANK SHAME

ATTENTION WESTPAC CEO GAIL KELLY : Your Westpac PR and management network does not work when it comes to complaints about the shabby Casuarina branch in Darwin. Little Darwin raised this issue back on May 4 and subsequently alerted head PR man Paul Marriage. He passed the matter to Danny John with the fancy title of senior PR relations officer/ company affairs and sustainability . Danny Boy/Girl on May 13 said the NT regional general manager would be in touch . Not so far . I really did not expect a personal call, but I could ask a whole list of questions, having been a newspaper reporter, involved in consumer affairs, PR, and politics ; I thought somebody would spring into action and rectify the bad look for one of big four banks . It defies the transit of Venus to think that a bank manager could daily enter the premises , see them in such a shabby state , and not do something about it..

Today I called on the bank to transact some business and nothing had changed . The same grotty stains at the main entrance, the chairs with plastic covering missing from the arm rests, corrosion showing through, the large sign on the reception desk with battered and missing letters. A staff member then addressed me and partner as “ yuz customers” (shades of I love yuz all ). Leaning up against the reception desk , I noticed that there were stains on the wall from Cyclone Carlos when the building was flooded . Some electrical cabling was visible through the channel on the floor. My old bank card was perforated with a well worn punch- Cheap As Chips offering smarter looking ones for next to nothing. Nearby was a stapler which looked way past its use by date . The bank manager sign was peeling . On the ABC today a Westpac bod spoke about the looming boom in the NT .When it comes to Westpac up here , it would appear that the wheels have fallen off before the great leap forward takes place. Surely it is not beyond the combined might of the Westpac bank to get its act together at Casuarina? PS : Are you related to Ned ?

YOUR AVERAGE DARWIN TOURIST

Back in the good old days,circa 1950s , this postcard represented your wholesome tourist from down south. The message on the back, sent by Dais to Ruth and Arthur , in South Australia, says they are leaving Darwin on July 4 after lots of fun and seeing ugly things like crocs and pythons . They are bringing home some plants , including bananas, which they hope will grow down south. Heaps of love and kisses. (From Peter Simon Ephemera Collection.)

IN JOHN ,QUEEN IS AMUSED

LONDON : One of the great unsolved mysteries of modern Britain is why did Lizzie Two-Stroke give former Australian PM John Howard a merit gong. One outrageous suggestion is that the medal was a made - in - China freebie from the palace pizza delivery service. However, a Royal flunky denied this horrible suggestion . Her Majesty, he said, had been greatly impressed by Mr Howard’s proud record when she read about it in the above informative book in the centrally heated throne room during a London pea-souper .

SERIOUS ELECTIONEERING IN DARWIN

* Campaigning is deadly serious in America.

Sounding like that hyperactive Andrew Denton of the new ABC TV word show RANDLING , the telephone caller asked to conduct a quickie NT political poll for a Brisbane based marketing research outfit. In a moment of weakness , I agreed as this was the second caller in less than a week wanting to ask me about the forthcoming Territory election. The first inquisitor rang at a time when I was busy putting together a further epic for Little Darwin and sounded somewhat uppity, so I cut him short and said not interested . He complained that I had not allowed him to finish his spiel. My retort left him in no doubt about my preference.

Then along comes this Denton-sounding person on the Sabbath and the idea of him having to moonlight for the Devil instead of bending the knee in a tabernacle indicated he must have fallen on tough times , despite his TV appearances. Still , Randling has no chance of living up to the popularity of Spicks and Specks, but it is different and better than most of the mind numbing crap on the box.

Trouble is this Denton -sound alike asked me questions about an electorate in which I do not reside . It took me a while to twig that the Sanderson electorate aint my territory. Had he asked me about the present incumbent in my electorate , I could have described that person in words not likely to be heard on Randling.

My response to questions about the Sanderson seat were therefore irrelevant , misleading . Who out of Paul Henderson and Terry Mills would make a better Chief Minister ? This was a question I was able to answer in light of the failure of the CM and assorted spin doctors to respond to REAL media questions . Boy, does this town need another media voice ! Most voters, I am sure , believe Denton should jump on the gravy train with a series about a yodelling camp oven chef as tucker seems to be the Australian obsession at a time of growing global starvation.