Unlearnt Lessons in the Northern Territories

'Banjo' Paterson wrote of Darwin in 1898... 'I would give my weary soul to be back at Palmerston in that curious Iuke-warm atmosphere and watch the white sailed pearling-boats beating out... Some day it will be civilized and spoilt; but up to the present it has triumphantly overthrown all who have attempted to improve it' (Bulletin 31st December 1898). Such Faustian sentiment summing up the Janus face of north Australia is as relevant now as then. From the start of white exploration Northern Australia was seen as a veritable Eden (Mollah 1985) but it was harsh, hard and unremitting to those seeking to exploit, develop and change it.