heading north

Swansong of a Territorian heading north

Geography notwithstanding, there is little community of interest between Australia’s Northern Territory and Australia’s Territory of Papua. But Port Moresby has recently inherited from Darwin one of Australia’s best-known journalists. He is Douglas Lockwood who represented the Melbourne <( Herald” group there from 1941 until recently and who, while he was about it, managed to write about a dozen books.

HE will now take over control of the Melbourne company’s inter ests in Papua-New Guinea (South Pacific Post, etc.).

His swan-song as far as the Northern Territory is concerned is another book, The Front Door, which covers Darwin’s first 100 years.

Australia’s Top End has always at tracted the odd and the eccentric— people probably had to be that way to stand it in the early days. Ec centricity when mixed with a liberal dose of Australian-type trade union principles produced some extra ordinary kafuffles.

Lockwood describes them with gusto and is probably at his best when writing about the four news papers that have delighted and enraged Darwin people in its 100 years of existence.

It will be interesting to see how Papua-New Guinea affects Mr. Lock wood. Possibly Territorians (P-NG variety) will seem tame by com parison with those from the Top End.

(The Front Door. Rigby. $4.25).

COLIN SIMPSON, once best know for his several books on Papua-New Guinea, now travels much further afield for raw material.

His latest book, which was just in time for Christmas, is Greece — The Unclouded Eye. It is in the now expected giant-sized Simpson’s format, with lashings of illustrations, many of them in colour, and with about 400 pages of text which cover past history, present experience and what to do and see.

It would be appreciated by a ship traveller who was on his way to tour Greece. Air travellers with weight problems might take a different view.

(Greece—The Unclouded Eye

Angus & Robertson. $6.95).

PEOPLE who buy books by the square yard and like to look as much as read will be interested in a new coffee-table specimen, Port folio of Australian Birds. The plates, from original paintings, are by William T. Cooper who is recognised as one of the most accomplished

painters of birds in Australia. The text is by Keith Hindwood, who already has a number of books on ornithology to his credit.

While being scientifically accurate the illustrations are delightful to look at and each one of the plates is worthy of framing—if anyone cares to cut up a $lO book.

To go with the plates there are detailed and interesting descriptions of the 25 Australian birds that are in the book. The book was produced in Japan and is of top quality.

Fa Portfolio Op Australian

BIRDS. Reed. $9.95),