Mornington Island 1979
We had barely begun our working holiday caravanning trip and while I was doing a small job in Sydney, when
an invitation arrived from Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria to look at an accounting job with the local Mornington Island
Shire which also operated the local store and canteen, a bank and airline agency and also acted for the Federal Government as
paying agents on "Pension Day" when the whole island population lined up for their booze money. I flew up all the way
from Sydney to Cairns where I overnighted before taking "Bushies" flight the next morning, overflying Karumba on the way.
Mornington Island has been the only place where I've seen young sprouting coconuts growing under the protection of padlocked wire-cages.
Why? Because without that protection they would've been grubbed out and eaten by the locals before they had had a chance to grow into a tree.
The Mornington Island Shire was the successor to an old church mission which had run the island in the past. Financial records were
less than transparent and there was an overall impression of mayhem with lots of useless hangers-on holding positions well beyond their
range of expertise. The whole thing had echoes of my previous assignment on Thursday Island except that Mornington Island was a lot
more backward and isolated. There was not an inch of bitumen on the whole island which was flat and featureless. The job itself
would've been a great sinecure for some ageing accountant who had already lost his balance(-sheet) but not very attractive
for somebody who was still trying to make his mark on the world. And so I said, "Thanks but no, thanks" and we continued
with our caravanning trip.
|
Bad debts were a big problem
The young boys were a delight to watch
The office by the wharf
The accountant's company house
"Bushies" were the only way in and out
"Pension Day"
Office on left, single-men's mess on right
The office from a different angle
The company house again
|
Click on image to enlarge
|