Junction Journal — January, 2017 3

The Junction Journal is 25 years young in 2017

What exactly happened 25 years ago? The Douglas-Daly district, as we know it today, was in its

infancy as it had only been opened up for agriculture less than 15 years before. The Douglas

Daly Primary School was only 10 years old and the Douglas Daly Tourist Park (previously known

as the Corn Patch) was younger still. There were some long-termers in the district with Bob and

Pam Rixon and family, residing on Oolloo Station, Brian and Rosemary Whatley and family at The

Pines and the Douglas Daly Research Farm, all being permanent fixtures since the early 60s. The

district was evolving post ADMA scheme and it was found that the residents required some sort of

communication tool.

So, along came two Research Farm residents (Sue Shotton & Julie Muirhead), who canvassed

the district to come up with a solution, which was suppose to be a monthly newsletter of a few

pages. Remember, this was before internet, social media and people having computers were few

and far in between. How technology has progressed.

The first edition of the Junction Journal was typed up on a typewriter and an Amiga 500 computer

with 1 MB memory. Did you say 1 MB? Yes affordable computers of around $4000 in value had

no internal memory and relied on small floppy discs. The master copy of the Junction Journal

was then driven to Darwin and photocopied on a machine in a government office (thanks to Paul

Jonanskas) and then distributed to all properties within the Douglas-Daly at no cost to the

residents. It was a free not for profit publication and I am pleased to say after 25 years it is still a

free publication to residents of the Douglas-Daly.

This was the banner of the first ever Junction

Journal, which was released on the 20th May,

1992. It was 12 pages long and with its

introduction to the district had many reports

from businesses and residents.

So what was happening in the Douglas-Daly in May 1992?

Douglas Daly Playgroup Association had held its AGM and Julie Muirhead was the Co-

ordinator, Heather Wisemantel (secretary/treasurer) and Sue Shotton (Resource

Supervisor). Playgroup was held every Thursday morning at the playgroup donga on the

Research Farm. Smile-A-Mile Fun Bus met here every second month for the under 5’s.

Douglas Daly Primary school had been on an excursion to Fenton and Long airstrips to help

with their studies of the Battle of Australia. (Report written by Katarina Rixon—10 years old)

Mr Ray Hopkins, Regional Superintendent Education advertised an introductory School

Council meeting to be held June 3rd to elect the Douglas Daly School Council. After a few

meetings, the Douglas Daly community voted not to devolve and create a new school

council but rather to retain the School Association and

have Palmerston Rural Group School Council manage

the funds of the school.

Vince from the Adelaide River Health Clinic visited

the district monthly and held clinics at the Playgroup

donga on the Research Farm.

Wally Cook, Pine Creek Police visited the district

the 2nd Wednesday of the month.

Junction Journal — January, 2017 4

Douglas Daly School Association committee at this time was President, Shane Izod,

Secretary, Beth Beament and Treasurer, Pam Rixon and fundraising included a Quiz Night

at the Corn Patch on the 13th June.

Douglas Daly Research Farm News:

Held a cattle auction on the 23rd May where 1700 head of cattle were being auctioned

under the Dalgety hammer.

Jungawa Road was resurfaced and culverts were installed at Ruby Downs

The bitumen road around the office, circuit and workshop had been approved.

The old case 1594 tractor was replaced with a Massey 3655

The coolroom at the end of the old singlemans (near the club) became operational,

however the approved plans to put a roof over the two demountables and concrete in

between didn’t come to fruition.

The Research Farm had the highest yielding sesame crop in the Douglas Daly for that

year yielding 28 tonne off 48 ha with an average of 583 kg/ha

Corn Patch Gymkhana (AKA Douglas Daly District Funkhana) was being planned for

August and a meeting was called by Cookie and Beth to organise the program and the

clearing of the grounds for the event..

Douglas Daly Farm Social Club executive committee at this time was Phil Hausler

(President), Heather Wisemantel (Sec/Treasurer), Doug McKean (Licensee). There was

one life member — Fred Schneider.

A competition for the name for the

Newsletter was launched.

34 suggested names were sent in for the

publication, with the majority of the names

centred around what the district represented

at that time and the two rivers. In the second

edition of the publication the district was

asked to vote on their favourite name and the

Junction Journal was elected as the name of

the publication.

Chris Hazel drew the initial cover of the

Junction Journal and this appeared on the 4th

edition in August 1992. This cover depicted

the district perfectly and consisted of the two

rives with Crystal Falls. It also depicted the

industries within the district at that time such

as tourism, cattle, cropping and hay

production. Our pastimes of chasing pigs,

fishing, camping and horse activities were

also covered.

This cover appeared on three issues during

this year and has made this month’s cover as

well.

Junction Journal — January, 2017 5

Other artwork by Bev Cummings grazed the covers of

November and December that year. We were fortunate to

have some really talented artists who would spend some

time creating these masterpieces.

Well, what else happened in 1992?

Chris Hazel went on a 9 week trek to Africa. Hailey

Muirhead (9 years old) wrote about looking after Chris’s

goldfish, “Gobble-guts”, her loach and her old dog, Jo.

Bwana Chris on her return also wrote about her journey

and created some lovely artwork to go with it.

Ladies nights were held at the Corn Patch. On July

1st “...one of our quieter affairs, no mail strippers or wobbly

ladies and everyone home at a respectable hour. The 11

who attended were shouted 2 bottles of champagne by a

gentleman from Australian Safaris and Cookie (Corn

Patch) put on a great spread of bugs, prawns, barra and

salad. …”

Funkhana was held on 1st August and in preparation for this volunteers demolished an old

loading ramp and put a new one in, extended the race track and removed an old fence be-

tween the Corn Patch and the house. Katie McKean won overall aggregate (kids section)

Melbourne Cup at the Douglas Daly Farm Social Club with one punter stating he never has

had much luck with sweeps and backed nearly half the field in the $5 sweep not to even win

a place!! Bob Rixon won the Knobbly Knee comp and Sue Shotton the Fashion on the Field.

Ross Parker was born (not quite legal barra size — how things change)

Douglas Daly Weather — In November the Research Farm recorded 45oC on its hottest day

which, at that time, did not make the hottest ever with 45.5 oC recorded in Nov 1990.

Firearms amnesty from 12 October to the 31 December, 1992 whereby people could hand

in firearms, no questions asked, before new photographic firearms licences came into effect

on Jan 1 1993.

The pool at the Research Farm was converted to salt

in 1992.

Apparently the cricket balls were a bit dangerous for

those playing cricket at Tipperary. Our local team

used to head across Douglas River at Tipperary

crossing on a week night on a regular basis to play

indoor cricket so you could say this was a precursor to

our current annual cricket matches. “The Battle of the

Ashes” with Douglas Daly vs Tipperary was played at

the Research Farm in September with only a couple of

injuries. Mark, Tipperary, needed first aid treatment

after trying to cut Elastoplast off the roll with a plastic

knife!

In 1992 Santa arrived at the Social Club on a John

Deere, in 1990 a helicopter and 1987 a plane.

Junction Journal — February, 2017 5

The Junction Journal is 25 years young in 2017

1993—1996 in Review1993 —

New Year’s Eve was celebrated at the Corn Patch with plenty of dancing and singing with

the one man band playing Country Rock. “Renditions by Doug, Ed and Stuart could not

compare to Mary-Lyn’s rendition of “Blanket on the Ground”.

Steve Lucas left Douglas-Daly to work in Saskatchewan, Canada for 7 months on a wheat

and barley farm. Bill Doyle gave him some great advice about North American women.

Douglas Daly Research Farm held a Field Day in March opened by the Hon Mike Reed with

the theme “Mixed Farming—The Direction for Development” and a cattle auction in August.

Volunteer Bushfire Brigade Games — Douglas Daly Volunteer Bushfire Brigade WON the

perpetual trophy with 95 points with BART following close behind with 93 points and

Elizabeth Valley with 91.

FIRE broke out on 23rd July and showed just how fast a fire could go. In 1993 the cleared

area (Systems) on the right of the road coming into DDRF had been cleared the wet before.

A fire started in Ruby Downs hay paddock from a mower and within an hour and half

travelled across this paddock. Over the next 75 minutes the fire sped through DDRF Tippera

paddock, Bay 6 & part Bay 7, paddocks 57 and 55. This was on the edge of the newly

cleared area. Tipperary put a fire break through the middle of this area and a back burn was

done off the fence adjacent to the school to halt the spread. Luckily no one was injured

except for slightly singed ears as one person lay in a wheel rut as the flames went over the

top of him. One grader was burnt. A demonstration of true community spirit was displayed

with over 10 fire units from the district and Tipperary.

The stork made an appearance with Nicole Shotton, Ross Harlan-Parker was christened on

Kerry’s 21st, Matt Lucas turned 21 also, Nelson Nunn turned 40, Doug McKean 42, Bill

Doyle a very special birthday milestone and Meredith and Robbie Bright tied the knot as did

Peter “Cooch” Caley and Polly Logman.

Douglas Daly Social Club Life Member, Fred Schnieder, retired from the DDRF.

An Air Med plane crashed on DDRF airstrip. The pilot forgot to put his landing gear down.

No-one was injured except the plane.

Douglas Daly School News — Enrolment in October—18. Amanda Nunn awarded the

Student Citizen Award. Year 7 students farewelled—Amanda, Joe Pietsch and Katarina

Rixon

The Calligrapha beetle, which feed on Sida were

released at the Douglas Daly Research Farm.

1994 —

A Roping Practice Day was held at Kumbyechants

in February. Tony Cook demonstrated a great catch.

Roz and John Lucas celebrated their 25 th wedding

anniversary. And the stork delivered Joseph Wisemantel

and Ben Taylor.

Junction Journal — February, 2017 6

The district said farewell to many local residents. Leaving DDRF was Phil Hausler taking up

an extension position in Katherine, Colin Tidswell went to Qld. Peter and Amanda Bagley

left DDRF after many years as Manager (since 1988) and Assistant Manager previous to

that. Amanda worked for the education department and drove the school bus for many

years. The Wisemantel family also departed for NSW. Ed had been Assistant Manager

since 1988. Bonalbo Station owners, John and Kay Vidler left the district and moved back

to Qld. Also departing was local character Lyle Vidler who was planning on visiting Africa.

Ruby Downs also said farewell to the Pietsch family.

On the 22nd May the Stuart Highway 16 km north of Pine Creek for 2.6 km was closed on

and off for 2 hours for the Cannonball Run. 2 days later “Carry On Down the Daly Bash” hit

Lukies Farm in true variety bash style. Douglas Daly School entertained the bashers with a

musical display in true pirate fashion.

Douglas Daly Playgroup won a “Year of the Family” grant of $2000 for play equipment and

the Junction Journal received $800 for publishing supplies.

Fires this year broke out in Maneroo hay paddock

Dedication ceremony was held to commemorate the naming of bridges over Douglas River

(Bond Bridge) and Middle Creek (Liddy Bridge) . Percy Bond was a well known road maker

within the NT and was an “ACE” on a grader. Tom Liddy was a great cattleman and

purchased Oolloo Station in 1939 from the Fleming Estate. This lease was modified in 1957

and now included Douglas Station. The stone that the plaques are on is local stone and

collected from the causeway near Paddy’s Lagoon on Douglas Station. The first vehicles

over the newly painted bridges after the dedication was a convoy of road trains, heading for

Ruby Downs to pick up 1200 head of cattle.

Douglas Daly Farm Social Club — Tennis has been a big hit this year with the Dad’s

teaching the kids. One suggestion was to use the gas gun as a ball throwing gun to give

the Dad’s a bit of competition or a break so they can have a drink. The club christened a till

drawer for the first time.

Sadly long time resident and owner of Oolloo Station since 1959, Bob Rixon, passed away.

1995 —

Flooding in the Douglas –Daly reaching heights not seen in about 12 years with the Corn

Patch having wet feet and Cookie stepping out of his accommodation into knee deep water.

The Australian Defence Force held Kangaroo 95 in July and August using DDRF as one of

its bases.

This was the first year that special Douglas Daly District Funkhana ribbons were used and

being proudly displayed around the horse’s neck with one horse (Misty) running out of

“neck” having multiple riders. Chris Hazel once again starred as the Aggregate Winner on

ELVIRA and still retains her “Titles” for the Barrel and Bounce Pony events. She also

placed 3rd in the Ironman Event. All proceeds of the day and auction went to the Douglas

Daly Volunteer Bushfire Brigade and the Douglas Daly School.

Douglas-Daly Dung Beetle Crusaders found 4 native species and 5 introduced species in

the CSIRO Dung Beetle Crusade through the Double Helix Program.

Hector the Cat visited the Douglas Daly School to teach the students about bike safety.

New toilet block installed at the Douglas Daly Farm Social Club. The club also hosted a

Golden Oldies’ rugby match between the Darwin Stubbies and the Katherine Crocs.

Junction Journal — February, 2017 7

Douglas-Daly held a progressive dinner which was a great success with many couples

enjoying an evening out. Roz and John Lucas made a late entry after getting “bogged” on

the way to Bonalbo. (I suppose that was a better excuse than running out of petrol on a

secluded road at night!)

On November 29th 1995 Victoria River MLA Tim Baldwin announced that a new town would

be formed on a 143.7 ha site on the corner of Oolloo and Jungawa Rd and it would cater for

an increased regional population due to expanding agricultural opportunities in the district.

This townsite was the first area set aside for urban development and a new regional centre

since the establishment of Palmerston in 1980. Mr Baldwin was consulting with local

residents on an appropriate name for the township. “The most favoured name is Oolloo—a

Malay term meaning “Head of the River” - which was the name of the original station

established by early pastoralists Jim Fleming in 1907”,he said. “The name Fleming —

dedicating the memory of Jim Fleming and his brother Mick who took over the station in

1929—has also been proposed.” In 2017 the town of Fleming is certainly not a thriving hub

but is certainly a central community hub at Lot 19 — the sport and recreational area.

1996 —

On the 22nd February, 1996 the NT Government confirmed the name for the new townsite

in the Douglas-Daly region. Victoria River MLA, Tim Baldwin stated, “It gives me great

pleasure to announce that the name “Fleming” has been recommended to the Minister for

Lands, Planning and Environment, Mike Reed by the NT Place Names Committee, which

he has confirmed”

Douglas Daly Research Farm held a successful field day on the 16th March, 1996.

Preceding this the NT Government Cabinet held a Cabinet Meeting on the Research Farm.

DDRF Staff billeted members of the cabinet during their stay on the farm. Very interesting

in the Shotton household where raffle tickets were being made for the Junction Journal

raffle at the field day. Darryl Manzies, MLA settled down to the task of cutting up raffle

tickets whilst enjoying the evening with the Shottons and ended up winning the 1st prize of a

return trip for 2 to Brisbane donated by Qantas.

1996 saw the introduction of the student of the month in the Junction Journal.

Roz & John Lucas and Lisa & Trevor Dunn are the new owners at the Douglas Daly Park

(formerly the Corn Patch).

The stork delivered Jack Dunn

Douglas Daly Playgroup along with Adelaide River Playgroup visited the Fire Station at

Stuart Park to enjoy an hour or so with our local heroes. Some were a bit apprehensive

about seeing the big red trucks up close but others, like Nicole Shotton, couldn’t get in the

truck fast enough for a ride up to NT Fleet with sirens blaring!

Volume 5 Issue 8, August 1996 had its very own sealed section for those who wondered

about what goes on at Ladies Night containing a naughty poem titled, “My Very First Time”.

If you would like a repeat of this let the journal know.

The Douglas Daly District Funkhana Volunteers, which is simply a name for every

community member of the Douglas Daly District who is involved with the Funkhana, have

been nominated by the Junction Journal for the 1996 Volunteer Involvement Program

Recognition Awards run by Youth Sport and Recreation. The community was awarded a

High Commendation for achievement in Volunteer Management for 1995.

Junction Journal — February, 2017 8

1996 cont —

The Junction Journal now forms part of the Territory Collection at the NT Library.

ANZAC Day 1996 was a special day for the Douglas-Daly Community as it was the first

ANZAC Day Memorial Service at the Fleming Townsite.

October 1996 saw a petition for the Douglas Daly Park to become a postal agency so they

could pick up the district mail bags for residents. This was successful and was approved in

December but as Australia Post is quite often slow it didn’t come into effect until January

1997.

Fleming Town Planning meeting was held on the 25th November at the DDRF Science lab.

Dear Santa, Could I please have a Yamaha DT 125, a doll in a trolley, a horse, a sega and

a cat, a Yamaha 100cc, a basketball, a Toy Story Cd-Rom, a bike, a Barbie and a horse for

her to ride, a model boat, a doctor set, a roller and a grader, a remote controlled XRC Air

Devil and books & cassettes. Love from Ricky, Hailey, Fiona, Anthony, Emma, Rodney-

Lee, Katie, Bree, Annie, Cody, Jessica, Nicole and Ross. xxxxxxx