The conclusion in this autobiography by North Queensland aviator Bob Norman contains a tribute to the late journalist/historian/publisher,Glenville Pike, who edited the book and drew the dustjacket front cover illustration . He
and journalist / editor/ author, photographer Jessie Litchfield , who ran the Roberta Library in Darwin , launched
the North Australian
Monthly (NAM) in 1954 .Glenville edited NAM until it closed in December 1965, unable to compete against a new Murdoch publication produced in
Darwin.
The Special Collections section at the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library at James Cook University, Townsville, recently received the ledgers of the Townsville printing firm , T.Wilmett and Sons Limited , which printed NAM. This writer hopes to inspect the ledgers in the near future to see if there are entries related to NAM. Pike complained that it was discovered late in the life of the publication that the printing firm had taken out too much for taxation in the accounts . As Pike lived frugally, a few extra quid from each edition would have been appreciated .
A recent acquisition , this 1976 book by Bob Norman once more reminds this writer how industrious Pike was neglected in Darwin in subsequent years , where he lived at the 23-mile for some time,writing, painting , with his mother and auntie. Over the years, Pike encouraged many people in the North to put pen to paper , including Bob Norman , and publish their memoirs, write short stories , poems , feature articles .
An unexpected mention of Pike is contained in PARADISE OF QUACKS An Alternative History of Medicine in Australia , Macleay Press , Sydney, 2002. It cites how in the 1950s, Pike , in his 1983 book THE LAST FRONTIER ,wrote that when he developed dengue fever while droving was given a home -made mixture,"horribly horrible" in taste , the ingredients including quinine, Epsom salts and gin.
The death
of North Queensland historian /author Clive Morton , an associate of Pike's, was reported days ago. Morton wrote a regular column about the
Queensland sugar industry for the
North Australian Monthly and in one he blamed the Pentagon for the fall in the price of sugar . Morton also wrote
the biography of Evelyn "Elvo" Owen who invented the Owen
machine gun .
