Seen here undergoing major renovations years ago in expectation of a golden age , the heritage listed 1890 built Hotel Victoria , known as The Vic , in Darwin is once more in financial difficulties and has been placed into administration,owing about $750,000. The pub used to be the watering hole for the Northern Territory News when it was produced in the old Tin Bank building . The stories gathered from that pub in that time were legion . Characters galore came and went-croc and buffalo shooters, wharfies ,the Oyster King . As reported earlier, editor Jim Bowditch held court there , pausing to bark at the footrest on one occasion due to swallowing beer down the wrong way ; to disprove the southern belief that Darwin was a wild place , its habitants punchy, he went around drinkers in The Vic insulting them and asking them if they wanted a fight ... only an Irishman wanted to punch on but was thumped by Bowditch's Kiwi guardian angel, reporter Les"Thrasher"Wilson .An American gourmet cooked and ate for the first time thin slices of buffalo meat on the counter in the garden bar and gave it a big tick of approval.
Walkley Award winning journalist and author Keith Willey picked up innumerable stories drinking in The Vic. One was about an alcoholic dog . It could be said that pubs once oiled the newsbeat throughout the nation .But it seems modern reporters have become almost milksops . Nowadays it is hard to see a reporter in a drinking establishment anywhere in Darwin .
It is said that reporters working on the Townsville Bulletin are urged not to spend time in hotels as they are now mainly glued to the desk , churnalists . As a consequence, in both Darwin and Townsville that contact with the hoi polloi of society is lost . The Mandorah Hotel, across the Darwin Harbour , ran dry after many years, closed. Darwin Safe Accord , designed to reduce drunkenness and brawling in the CBD is impacting on other hotels.
