DARWIN

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXX, Issue 13670, 18 June 1942, Page 8

DARWIN

NOW A CHANGED PLACE “Darwin has always been a problem town, with a long history of failures. Vestey’s meatworks cost more than £1,000,000, and closed after three years; the railway was operated at a loss; mining was seldom profitable; and Government experimental farms cost £50,0 00 only to fail after seven years. The civil population had many grievances that with the outbre of war and influx of troops were accentuated and -enlarged. Before the first air raid Darwin was probably one of the worst towns in Australia in which to live. It had all the disadvantages of the tropics and few of its comforts. To-day, with the Army in complete control, Dar Win is a different place. The town itself is a city of the dead since the evacuation, but in military camps there is a quickening of new spirit. If a job is to be done, troops ‘go to it,’ and results soon show. Once a hple in the road remained a hole while cars made a detour and formed a new track. Today somebody fills the hole.” —Melbourne “Argus.”