The funeral service for Bas Wie , centre of a refugee story which captivated the nation and England , will take place in Darwin's Saint Mary's Star of the Sea Cathedral on Wednesday. In 1947 , Bas , a 12 year old orphan , having experienced the Japanese occupation and treated kindly by Australian soldiers during the war , stowed away in the wheel nacelle of a Royal Dutch Air Force DC 3 about to make a flight from Koepang ( now Kupang ) , Dutch Timor , to Darwin . Scorched by the plane's exhaust and frozen by the cold air during the flight , he was found in a bad way , eyes rolling , inside the wheel well soon after the landing .
In hospital for three months, he faced deportation on his release , but the Administrator of the Northern Territory , Arthur Driver, took him in and raised him with his own family in Government House .
Darwin based Melbourne Herald journalist Douglas Lockwood in 1957 won the London Evening News award for the world's strangest story which was about Bas Wie .
Little Darwin previously reported that Bas and young Mike Driver , who became a journalist , used to ride out from Government House with rifles to shoot wallabies . At times , they took turns to shelter in a wartime pill box while the other fired a shot or two at it . Coming home late one afternoon from such an exciting outing, they were stopped by police , taken to the police station , and Administrator Driver , also in charge of the NT Police Force , informed . Taken home by car , Mike said his father delivered a strong verbal kick up the derriere . When Administrator Driver left Darwin to take up a new post in Italy, Bas remained in Darwin with another family .
At the age of 70 , Bas was a VIP guest on an inaugural airline service between Darwin and Kupang . Well liked and respected, he helped people with alcohol related problems and eventually suffered dementia. Many documents relating to the Bas Wie episode are held in the National Archives , Canberra.
In hospital for three months, he faced deportation on his release , but the Administrator of the Northern Territory , Arthur Driver, took him in and raised him with his own family in Government House .
Darwin based Melbourne Herald journalist Douglas Lockwood in 1957 won the London Evening News award for the world's strangest story which was about Bas Wie .
Little Darwin previously reported that Bas and young Mike Driver , who became a journalist , used to ride out from Government House with rifles to shoot wallabies . At times , they took turns to shelter in a wartime pill box while the other fired a shot or two at it . Coming home late one afternoon from such an exciting outing, they were stopped by police , taken to the police station , and Administrator Driver , also in charge of the NT Police Force , informed . Taken home by car , Mike said his father delivered a strong verbal kick up the derriere . When Administrator Driver left Darwin to take up a new post in Italy, Bas remained in Darwin with another family .
At the age of 70 , Bas was a VIP guest on an inaugural airline service between Darwin and Kupang . Well liked and respected, he helped people with alcohol related problems and eventually suffered dementia. Many documents relating to the Bas Wie episode are held in the National Archives , Canberra.
