DARWIN BOMBED AGAIN

 War is  big  business   in  the  Northern Territory .

A WW ll  Army truck  with  eager passengers on a tour of  Darwin which includes  information  about  the Japanese  bombing  of the city , taking in the   East  Point  gun battery  and military precinct , the  military museum .

Billed as the   Darwin History and Wartime Experience , the  one and a quarter  hour  tour , offering to relive Darwin's historic  past, including  details of prewar  years , Cyclone Tracy , characters, heroes  and  adventurers , was  well   patronised   during  the  recent   invasion   by   southern  tourists  and   the   school  holidays , while combined  US-Australian military  exercises  were  going  on . 

  

The  Book Shop  in  the   Darwin  CBD  Smith Street  Mall  has a  large   war section. Another substantial  collection of  war   books, below,   can be found in the reference  library  of  the   Genealogical Society of  the  Northern Territory , which, at long last,   has  moved  into  new premises. 

A  plaque  in parliament house , which includes  details in braille , marks the  spot  where the  Darwin Post Office was hit  by a bomb and staff  killed  in the  l942  attack.

AMERICAN CELEBRITY ALBUM CONTAINS EARLY AUSTRALIAN CONTENT

 BOBBY AND  TEDDY-THIS  IS  YOUR LIFE  ! 

In yet  another  major  find, one of our   pickers  found  the  above  worn   scrapbook,  going  back  to  the  early 1930s ,  with  Hollywood   filmstar   Janet    Gaynor  on   the  cover  ,  at  a   massive   estate  clearance  sale  .

.Apart from a  large  newspaper photograph of  cricketer Don Bradman , it  contains  numerous annual  birthday  cards  from  parents and other relatives  of   two  boys, Bobby and Teddy  Guy , in  Victoria .

A birthday telegram to Teddy Guy , from the  Beaconsfield Parcel  Post  Office ,  dated  August 27,l939,  bears  the  Coburg  Post  Office stamp .

There are  two different  1934  Merlynston Primary School  class photographs    opposite   Don Bradman's  photo , who  was  probably  an  inspiration  to  the  kids  and  the  nation . 

Some  art work was done  on the back of a   religious  birthday  postcard , below ,  sent to    Bobby  by Sunday School teachers  Mr  and  Mrs  Marshall from  what  could  be  the Coburg Sunday School  Mission and  Scripture Union  in   May  1939. 

The  postal  stamp  image   on  the  top right  contains  religious  advice. There  is a  rural  scene  on  the  bottom  which  appears to show a  Sunday  school van, bearing the name CHILDRENS SPECIAL SERVICE MISSION,  being towed along a road, children waving, a man with a walking  stick , birds overhead .. 

Another surprising  topographical  postcard   was sent   to Teddy and  Bobby in 1945   from  South America  by  Elaine  who  was  not   keen to return   to   Buenos Aires. 

At the back of the album  is  a photograph of  Mrs  Ruby Guy inspecting an inscription on  a tombstone during  a  working bee at the Staffordshire Reef  Cemetery , which appeared  in   the  Ballarat  Courier  on  December 16, l978.  

NEXT :  Other  items from the  estate  clearance  sale . 

SEA OF MASTS

 

TOP: Yachts in Magnetic Island Marina . ABOVE : Under sail  off  Townsville.  

CAPTAIN COOK'S DEATH RARITY

An extremely rare German account of the death of Captain James Cook in Hawaii on 14 February 1779, published in Tallinn in Estonia, together with a letter concerning the 1775 Spanish voyage to the west coast of North America by Bodega y Quadra (1744-1794), also in German, with many references to Cook. Both works have been attributed to Georg Forster (1754-1794) or Johann Reinhold Forster (1729 1798), German naturalists who accompanied Cook on his second voyage . A recent offering from Douglas Stewart  Fine Books, Melbourne, $250,000.

 

Reval [Tallinn, Estonia] ; und Leipzig : bey Albrecht und Compagnie, 1780. [Bound with] Briefe aus England historisch-statistisch und artistischen Inhalts. 1s Heft. Reval [= Tallinn, Estonia] & Leipzig, Albrecht und Compagnie, 1780. Two works in one volume, octavo; contemporary half calf, sprinkled papered boards, brown morocco spine label with title in gilt (binding slightly rubbed, especially around the spine and along the extremities); 48; [14], [2 blank] pp; with a woodcut of a ship on the title page of the second work and woodcut headpieces in both; text in German (the first work also has two poems in English); some leaves slightly browned, occasional stains, small wormhole in the outer margin of pp. 15-26, otherwise very good; housed in a custom-made clamshell box with a red title label with gold lettering on spine.

The first work (Nachrichten) opens with a short two-stanza poem in English, On the death of Captain Cook, which was originally published under the nom de plume “Platonicus” in a London newspaper, the General Evening Post of 11-13 January 1780 (see Ruth Scobie. The many deaths of Captain Cook : a study in metropolitan mass culture, 1780-1810. PhD, University of York, Department of English, April 2013, p. 71 and p. 76).

The eulogy – here anonymous – is followed by a foreword and ‘a short account of Cook’s life, his voyages and his death, with many inaccuracies on his early career’ (Beddie). The recent information in the booklet is contained in a letter, Auszug des Briefes von Kensington den 4ten Febr. 1780 die Nachrichten von Kapitain Cook betressend. This letter ‘includes paraphrases of passages in Captain Charles Clerke’s letter to the Admirality, written at Kamchatka on June 8, 1779, announcing the death of Cook at Hawaii’ (Forbes). It includes many references to the Hawaiian Islands.

The work closes with a laudatory poem of substantial length (pp. 44-47), also in English, An Elegy on the Death of the late Captain Cook, which has been attributed to Anna Seward. It is followed by a German translation.

In addition to the present edition in the original German, Albrecht also published in Tallinn a French translation, Précis de la vie & des voyages du Capitaine Cook. Écrit de Kensington ce 4 février 1780 (Beddie 242). The two editions appeared more or less simultaneously.

The second work in this volume, Briefe aus England, would seem to be even rarer than the first. It was also published by Albrecht in Tallinn in 1780, and in a matching format to Nachrichten. It comprises a letter concerning the 1775 voyage to the west coast of North America by the Spanish voyager Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Hill claims that Cook used the account of this voyage written by Mourelle, Bodega’s second pilot, as an aid on his own third voyage. 

Presumably, Cook had access to a manuscript copy in Spanish or English, because the English translation of Mourelle’s voyage journal was the first printed version of his account and was not published until 1781, when it appeared in Daines Barrington’s Miscellany of that year, as Journal of a Voyage in 1775, to Explore the Coast of America, Northward of California . . . in the King’s Schooner, called the Sonora, and Commanded by Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega. This probably makes Briefe aus England the earliest account in book form of Bodega’s 1775 voyage to the Northwest. Ironically, just as Cook had valued the information in Mourelle’s account of Bodega’s voyage, the present work contains many references to the voyages of Cook.

[FIRST WORK: Nachrichten] Beddie 241, 1954, 243; Forbes 18; Howgego C176; VD18 11228342; cf. Du Rietz 1060 (French & German eds.); not in Hill. Trove locates three copies in Australian libraries (NLA; SLNSW; SLV). Rare Book Hub records a single copy at auction, which was similarly bound with the second work (Reiss und Sohn, 2009, 127,600 EUR).

THROW ANOTHER BUDDHA ON THE BARBIE !

 A  short  bit  of  couch surfing in  a Darwin  apartment  enabled  a quick look at  the books and  other objects of interest , including  the  following  figure   sitting  on  a   cooker.   

Nearby  was  a book  with  the  title  Buddhism for Meat Lovers . Another volume  was  by  the   Dalai  Lama on  the way to a  new  life..

There  was  a  range of other reading material  in the apartment , which included   the    intriguing corner  bookshelf ,  covering  diverse   subjects -  how to be a writer, How to Know God, the Oxford Companion to English Literature  , the  Oxford History of the Classical World, one by Carl Jung  and  a novel   by  Australian  author  Tim  Winton.

FLYING SPIDER / SPACE INVADER

 

Blown about  in a  cold  early morning breeze , a  hunched up spider, or an alien life form , in a web   provided   a   grotesque  subject  for  Vallis  on  Magnetic  Island . 

SUN OVER WING NORTH QUEENSLAND

Photo by  Aeronautical  Correspondent  Abra .