At last, two months into my visit north, today I made it to the Raffles bay settlement, begun in 1827, and abandoned in 1829. Here Collet Barker oversaw roughly eighty people, made up of convicts and soldiers in almost equal… Continue reading

I had a bit of a whinge on this entry a few days ago. Have now edited that out. Tomorrow comes the boat trip to Raffles Bay. Here are some pics of a beach walk on Mission Bay. I am… Continue reading

Nancy, who I met at the airport, before flying out to Croker, has become my most useful contact so far, and today we spent time together having a good look at the photographs taken by Paul Foelsche , the first police inspector… Continue reading

The rain has stopped, though an extensive cloud cover blocked the sun all day. The radio reported Darwinites shivering in minimums as low as eighteen degrees, and the maximum as a paltry twenty six. I managed for the first time… Continue reading

On the 18th June, after a totally sleepless night, when I gave up, read a book, and rose to prepare my final packing, I found myself winging it to Croker Island, via Goulburn Island. For much of the flight I… Continue reading

Three weeks into my top end odyssey, and things are going slowly. I have done some useful research, but am itching to do my field trip to Croker Island, and from there, a boat trip to Fort Wellington, Raffles Bay.… Continue reading

Early days in Darwin, and my research about Collet Barker and the remote early settlement at Raffles Bay has not really begun yet, apart from a brief chat with some librarians and some notes, and some explorations into how to… Continue reading

All of the Aboriginal groups who populated the vastness of Australia used fire; for warmth, for cooking, and for the hardening of wooden weapons such as clubs and spears. In the desert regions, with the tinder dry spinifex and the… Continue reading