Missy and Andy gave me this book. I finished reading it during airline travel and airport waiting on our trip to Pittsburgh. It is "a short history of the Northern Territory" in Australia. It was a great read, but being a history book...a little more info than one needs.
The NT has been Federal Government property since 1911. The city of Darwin was settled by intrepid pioneers primarily due to fear that some foreign power would claim it. The state of South Australia claimed it first, then gradually tried to get out of the deal. The Federal Government's attempts to govern are a classic collection of mistakes.
Private enterprise in the form of huge foreign companies, which had the capital to outlast unpredictable weather, was encouraged. One English company called Vesty's bought up cattle stations and built a huge meat packing plant in Darwin. They created markets for NT beef in Indonesia...and then they were gone. Why? They would never say and no-one has ever been able to access their records. But the historians speculate that the company simply could not trust government. The federal governments changed every four years...agreements were made...agreements were broken. That unpredictability on top of an unpredictable climate caused Vesty's and other major investors to up and leave.
One classic episode in the history of the NT was the government take-over of Darwin Hotels (pubs). Who would believe it? Who would stand for it? But the government quickly lost money and returned the pubs to private ownership. There is a lesson here. Anyone who can't make money on a pub, among some of the greatest beer drinkers in the world...in a place like Darwin that would drive anyone to drink...is obviously incapable of running anything efficiently.
Why would clear thinking people trust government to run anything efficiently? But the same people who can't run a pub in Australia efficiently, are attempting to run health care, airlines, aboriginal affairs...you name it.
And in the USA people chose a President and a Congress who are hell-bent to give us government run National Health Care...and government run banks. Heaven help us!
4 comments:
I'm glad you liked the book. We'll try to find you something a little less wordy next time! :)
Love the theory on the pub. Amen Dada!
Grrrr... that was me! I can't keep the two of us straight on here!
Well hi there cousin and greetings from Darwin, Northern Territory. I haven't read the book but it sounds like a good read. FYI dad passed away 21 Dec 2008 in Adelaide, South Australia (for your family records).
The rest of the clan are well and Cameron and I are both still in Darwin (after I spent 6 months in Adelaide last year).
When is your next trip to Oz?
love Sue
Post a Comment