INSIDE THE TIN BANK

 

Flashback to  the hot  metal  days  in  the hot and  leaky in the Wet     early   former  bank  building  in which the  Northern Territory News , Smith  Street , Darwin, was  produced, Jim  Bowditch  one  of  its  editors. 

Seated at the linotype machine on the right  is  the late Arthur Wright  , who came  to the Territory in 1920  and  had   vast   knowledge   about   Darwin's  lively   union  past  and  its  many  colourful  characters.

Others visible in the factory  and at the stone  could  include  Brian McKnight, Bobby Wills, Kevin Kelly , David  McDonald .   

There was a  time  when  Darwin  had  two banks -one  made from solid stone,  the  other  a  prefabricated  corrugated iron  structure , thus  called  the Tin Bank.   The above framed  photograph of the building is from the  Vern O'Brien  Collection in the Northern Territory  Genealogical  Society .

ATOMIC BOMB BOOKPLATE

Excavated from a little Darwin  box of  miscellaneous  items is a  well  worn ,  nibbled  novel  sporting  the  above   bookplate  of  Australian physicist , Marcus  Oliphant , who  played  a  part in the development of atomic bombs.  

There is an inked inscription:  M.L.E.Oliphant  .  Cambridge ,  October 8 ,l930.

While at Adelaide University ,  Oliphant (1901-2000)  was Inspired by  a talk by New Zealand - born  physicist ,  Ernest Rutherford , head of the famous Cavendish  Laboratory  in  Cambridge .

Oliphant  obtained  a  scholarship, went  to  Cambridge , joined  the  Cavendish Laboratory.  worked  with Rutherford    on construction of an accelerator and  carried  out  research on nuclear transmutation. 

In 1937, he accepted the Chair of Physics at Birmingham University, and began the construction of the largest cyclotron in Europe. As Britain prepared for war, Oliphant was one of a small number of mainly ex-Cavendish men who were informed of Britain's secret radar work. 

A Sir Mark Oliphant obituary  included  the  following : 

Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls were physicists of German origin, working in Birmingham. Because of their status, Oliphant could not arrange for them to  join in the secret radar program.

 But they could work on nuclear fission and the practicality of constructing an atomic bomb. Frisch and Peierls wrote a famous letter, in which they calculated that the critical mass of a fission bomb could be as little as a few pounds of separated fissile material.

Oliphant recognised the importance of this conclusion and was able to introduce the Frisch-Peierls letter to senior defence science officials in Whitehall, and then in the United States. The British atomic energy group, including Oliphant's team, eventually transferred to the United States and Canada. Oliphant's skill and determination, and his friendship with the American cyclotron physicist Ernest Lawrence, were important factors in the establishment of the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb...

He was the  first president of the  Australian Academy of Science and became  the Governor of South Australia in l971 , speaking  out  on  environmental  issues  and  the  perils  of   nuclear armaments.

NOTE: The novel in which  the bookplate appears  ends with wild rejoicing  over the end of  WW 1 , bombs  no longer   dropping ... just the opposite to the  present  world on fire  situation , the Israel - Gaza maelstrom especially,  and   Putin   rattling   nuclear  weapons  over  the  Ukraine..  

CHINESE CARVING MYSTERY

In 1879 , this  intriguing  Shou Lao god of longevity riding a deer figurine was discovered wedged in the roots of a banyan tree at Doctor's Gully, Palmerston, Port Darwin, Northern Territory, by a gang of workmen making a road. A 2009 email about the statuette was recently dug up in this blog's files .

The man in charge of the workmen , a Mr Strawbridge, is said to have pocketed the find .

Sydney's Powerhouse Museum said the figurine was bought from Strawbridge by Thomas Worsnop, Adelaide's Town Clerk , for five guineas.

In l888, the curator of the Technological Museum in Sydney (later Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences) wrote to various bodies exhibiting at the Centennial International Exhibition, seeking donations of material for the Museum. In response, the South Australian Commissioner sent a plaster cast of the statuette.

After Worsnop's death there was an unsuccessful attempt to sell the figure to the South Australian Museum. Later the figure was placed by Worsnop's daughters on loan to the Art Gallery of South Australia, (apparently in the 1930s) but was withdrawn during WWII for fear of Japanese bombing raids.

The figure passed by descent to Mrs May Krogman, who offered it to the Australian Museum early in 1950. The curator at the Australian Museum suggested that it belonged in the Technological Museum and was purchased by that museum for 10 pounds.

John Wade (a former Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences curator) speculated that the most likely explanation for it's presence in Australia was that it came with Macassan fishermen engaged in the trepang trade with China.

Later comments on the office file by Claire Roberts ,Powerhouse Museum Curator, following discussion with Margaret Clinch (13/2/1996) of the Northern Territory Historical Society, suggest that the figurine,carved from pinite, was more  likely to have been deposited in the tree some years before discovery. 

The  Macassan connection , it was claimed , was unlikely because trepangers did not usually come to Doctor's Gully / Darwin, preferring instead another area of the Northern Territory. Margaret Clinch felt the figurine was more likely left by local Chinese people already in Australia.

There were large Chinese gardens at Doctor's Gully  which supplied the community, Darwin  once  described as a Chinese  town .

In the l980s, the ALP Leader of  the Opposition, Jon Isaacs, called for the figurine  to   be returned   to   Darwin ,  being  part of  its  past .

AN AVALANCHE OF ECLECTIC EPHEMERA

Following the   removal of most of  Little Darwin's   books , sob ,  the serious  business of  excavating  and  sorting  out   the many   boxes  and  dusty   files   filled   with   an  incredible  range  of   ephemera   and  other   oddities  began in  earnest  . 

By  Peter Simon 

Long forgotten  , the  following  large wall hanging  made  from  sashes awarded   to  champion Corriedale rams  and  ewes  in Victoria , going  back to  l950   , was    found  in  a   box  along  with  an  old   Australian  Navy   flag .

 From  an uncertain  memory ,  both items were bought at  garage sales  , possibly  in  two  states . 

The  many  boxes of  paper  ephemera are  turning  up   a stunning  array  of   items , including the funeral service for  a great mate , Englishman Dave  Elliott,  of  Adelaide ,  deeply interested in  ephemera, writers and   books, rare   editions,  and   books  on  Australian art  and  politics . In  fact , Dave was  a  key figure in  South  Australian  ephemera  collecting  circles .  

Unearthed was a  large  folder  containing  a run of  the  Victorian Ephemera News   publication , filled  with  illustrations  and  valuable   information .

UPCOMING : More  offbeat  finds  and  tales  from the   depths  of  the   ephemera   catacomb . 

ANDERSON PARK TAPESTRY BY ABRA

 

Townsville .

IMPORTANT WRITER'S COLLECTION

Due to the discovery of an old telephone number  during  the  current    sorting out of  Little Darwin's   books and  files   ,  a call was  made   in which  it was   revealed   the    files  of  the  Walkley Award   winning   journalist and  author , the  late  Keith  Willey , are  stored away in  Brisbane  by a member of  his  family .

The files,  once  sought  after  by  the  National Library ,  include  numerous  letters .  Keith worked in   Melbourne ,   Adelaide ,  Alice  Springs, Darwin, (where he won three consecutive  Walkleys),   New  Guinea , Sydney ,  Cairns.

It is understood he  had been  doing research on  Kanakas in  Queensland   before   he   died . 

CLOUDY MORNING TAPESTRY BY ABRA

The  Strand , Townsville.