RURAL REBEL ROB BOOK UPDATE

Good to hear that  the book by   Darwin agronomist and  decorated  activist  Robert Wesley-Smith is at long last  with  the  printers and  could be available  in  mid-October.   An earlier work of his  is  shown here  . 

He  was  admired  by  the late  editor of the Northern Territory News, Jim Bowditch, who wrote him up in the paper on issues such as  the Vietnam War, aboriginal landrights ,the   East Timor struggle for freedom , and many other  matters, resulting in the Rural Rebel  Rob  title. 

During  the Timor  campaigning, another activist, Sam Kruger , said to have played a part in the  shooting  down of Admiral  Yamamoto's plane in WWll, received an intelligence tip that he and Wes would  be assassinated if they flew to Singapore. 

The shock  warning  given to Kruger specifically said it also applied to his  "four- eyed  mate"- spactacle wearing Wesley-Smith. The first president of  the  Northern Territory Civil Liberties  Council, formed just  after the l974  Cyclone Tracy , Wes  was involved with many other overseas and  local activists  , including one who opposed  uranium mining  and  changed his name  to Stuart Highway, the main  north south road.

Over the years  Wesley-Smith  built up a large filing  system, including one about  the Azaria  Chamberlain cases in  which  he  took an active  part  .

Nowadays Wes  continues to  raise  and comment  on  many  issues . He recently  dispersed  information about  a   West Australian  doctor who played an  important part with  Australian commandoes  in Timor during  WWll. 

His association with East Timor was so close that Timorese nuns  coming  to Darwin  were often picked up by him , transported  and even accommodated down on his  rural property, with his large   collection of protest T-shirts.

Seen driving by with the  nuns, it was  said that  it  was Father Wes with his flock.  

He also  tends  his melons in the hope  of  taking out first prize  again at  the  Darwin  Show .This is a dangerous pastime as a  friend of ours fell over and broke his wrist while picking  pumpkins. 

(Rebel. Book. Melon.) 

HELPFUL KOOKABURRA

Assisting  sort  out  Little Darwin's  jumbled  files  .

 (Kookaburra. Files. Blog.)

NO PLACE FOR A WOMAN AND MOKES

The   autobiography   of  Mayse Young  is  a   great insight  into and a tribute to  the  guts and enterprise of  so  many  families   in   tough   parts  of   Australia.

The blurb states  she was born in the bush , the daughter of  an itinerant railway worker , lived under canvas as a  child,  twice saw the  destruction of  her  home and all possessions, survived  the Japanese  bombing of  Darwin and   Cyclone  Tracy. 

By Peter Simon 

During  a   car trip  from Darwin to Alice Springs , I took award winning  author  Xavier  Herbert  into  the  Pine Creek Hotel and  told him about  the extraordinary  Mayse  and  her  husband . 

Herbert  had  been involved  with  several  feisty  women who  ran  pubs  in the Territory in  the  l920s and l930s who featured in his writing .  I also told him  about  the Territory's   "Death Adders"- gnarled, crotchety codgers ,  who could turn nasty ,but were not  really  bad old buggers , all generally having led  tough  lives.   

One of the  adders at Pine Creek was Cranky Franky Atkinson ,  an Englishman , who  lived in a tin shack , with whom I went   digging for bottles  and  Chinese  artefacts , which  included  part of  the  decorated  end  of  a joss  house  roof .

He said 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. Franky  claimed   a person who gained a lot of publicity by making long distance  outback trips on a bicycle  faked photos in which he claimed to be  threatened  by  crocodiles.   

During a Royal Visit to Darwin , I informed the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh  about  the  Pine Creek  loyal  subject  Cranky Franky.       

 The   Pine  Creek  adders  included  a  Russian who used to drop into  Ah Toy's famous store on pension day and  shoot the breeze.   

A copy of the l991  book was  found in  Townsville recently  and discussed  with  veteran ABC Darwin journalist Richard Creswick who  played a major  part  in last December's Darwin Cyclone Tracy  50th  anniversary commemoration .

Creswick  pointed out  that  multi -skilled Mayse Young, apart   from  running  pubs and providing numerous other  services , had  been  the  ABC's  Pine Creek contact  for  news items .

He recalled  an episode  when his  schoolteacher  wife was in a party  which drove down to the UDP Falls in  the Kakadu National Park, which featured in the Crocodile Dundee movie,  Pine Creek a  distant drive away .

As  Richard had a few days off from the  ABC,  he decided to  drive  down in his Mini Moke  and call into  the Pine Creek Hotel  and  thank  Young   for her  help  as the  ABC  contact.

A stone smashed his windscreen  and   by the  time he drove back to  Darwin from Pine Creek   and  reported  for  duty,   his  workmates said  he looked like a lobster. 

(Outback. Pub. Adders.)

FENCE SITTER STUDY

Blue-winged  Kookaburra.

 (Kookaburra. Fence. Vallis.)

TROPICAL LIGHT DISPLAY

 

Cairns. Photos by Aeronautical Correspondent  Abra.

(Cairns. Lights. Abra.)

DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI

On December  28, l908 , Europe's most powerful earthquake shook southern Italy , killing more than  80,000 people.  Survivors  relocated  to other  cities, some immigrated to  the United States . The epicentre was in the  Strait of  Messina which separates  Sicily from the Italian mainland . Messina was completely destroyed  . These  postcards, in  the Little Darwin  earthquake collection,  came  from  a  British  traveller who had  visited the  area and said they could  be  valuable one  day.  

(Earthquake, Messina. USA.)

HISTORIC HOTEL

It is hard to believe   Darwin's   Victoria  Hotel, which opened in 1890  and   accommodated   pioneering   aviators  who  flew  into  the gateway  of  Australia, is  now  closed  . 

 

It was  dubbed the aviators' home away from  home and played  a  large part in  the city's  polygot life.  Its publicans included  two prominent ,enterprising   women and  the Fong  Lim  family. It  survived cyclones and the Japanese bombing  in  WWll .

An unusual   event  started  outside  the  Victoria  Hotel  when  American  magician and   film actor, John Calvert,  blindfolded  , with police approval ,  drove down the main street to the Town Hall to  promote  a show he was putting  on  to  raise   funds.

Calvert  had sailed  the luxury yacht Sea Fox , above , down from Singapore in l959. One of the passengers was a chain-smoking chimpanzee  he  claimed  had  been  Jimmy the Chimp  in  a Tarzan  movie.

When the Sea Fox  set out   for Sydney where  Calvert was  to put on a magic show  it got into difficulties, began to sink  off  Arnhem Land, and RAAF planes were called in  from  Darwin and  even Townsville  to  find it, the navy coming to the rescue . 

Jimmy the Chimp ended up in Taronga Zoo, Sydney .

A visiting American gourmet  experienced  buffalo meat in the Vic  for the first  time which had been specially  cooked for him  by  Richard Fong  . A local character known as  the Oyster King  claimed in court he  had been  donged  by  Fong . 

Many journalists and authors  wet  their whistles in the  Vic, including the  great crusading  editor of  the Northern Territory News" Big Jim" Bowditch who hid  stayput Portuguese sailors  and Malay divers  from police and was  himself arrested  from time to  time . Jack  White , the man who found the Rum Jungle uranium deposits, frequented  the  hotel .

Another imbiber with a derogatory nickname  was  said to  have stalled  the  getwaway  car in  a  failed  London  bankrobbery. 

The  Vic Hotel in the  l970s was  thriving ,closed 2014. 

(Hotel. Darwin. Tarzan.)