SECRET LOCKS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18763, 20 July 1935, Page 15

SECRET LOCKS

SUPPLIES AT AERODROME OUTWITTING ABORIGINES • A,'/,, 1 ,. •sfl3 : Rlftl’ v .iii]y.;lo. Xf , ; .'(h,c/., iudv e'lhergfqiie'jr ja'fiiiinggfo'iijid' if-llicrii , has., i.jhcbt, prepared at Cape' FdureVoy. oh the lihiitliabited part of Ba'tlmfst Ishtiid', measures have been'taken to prevent wandering tribes of b'ftfc.lv>i .interfering with the water aild' srrpiilihs of petrol tvlfieli have been laid dpwfi by the Shell Company for emergency Use, by aeroplanes.

|.As .there fire practically no supplies of fresh water at Cupe.Fouroroy, especially ii) thp dry Reason., tlm Civil Aviation Dep'n'rfifi'iei'.f (Vdcicled. trt qdftCe a labile, pf wa’ler. c))i.,t ( iie . landing,-ground. So’ tha( if could itot )>e jiiiiic'ture.d or interfered with bv blacks, .an .iron tank, was used. it Was, sop Jed', but the authorities wore met w.rHi.tho difficulty •of placing a tap .on the tank 1 hat,would defeat all attempts. By the aborigines to. turn if. cut. They.;locked the tap with a combination Jock and-, placed a ..tablet on the tank above the tap, on which the eombinat ion, to) Die lpe.lv, had been written in Morseeotlq. An underground petrol tank bps been installed (tear tlip water tattle, anfl a similar device is used to prevent aborigines opening it. .. . .A-. . •: There arc about 1000’.aborigines on Bathurst Island, and a mission station, 40 miles from' the laxidinglgrouifd is the only white habitation. Cape Fourcroy is on the direct, ail-mail route between Darwin and,lvoepnng, . ;