See all of Kununurra Museum's YouTube Channel videos from our "Kimberley History Playlist" embedded here on this page. You can read more in the actual DV Descriptions that are on all videos (on YouTube), as there is some interesting history in those descriptions - (eg. Read the Croc Skull description on YouTube - Added to YouTube 19 III 2023 - Enjoy! :^)
Early Days - Crossing the Ord River (in 1899) - Ivanhoe Crossing (Short Kimberley Histories :^)
Setting the scene you are in a "four in hand" buggy (meaning drawn by four horses) driven by Patsy Durack, and you are crossing the great sandy bed of the Ord River near Ivanhoe station, thirty years before the first concrete crossing at Ivanhoe.
Some true history about the writer of the 1899 article the film is based on. In 1899 the owner-editor of the Northern Territory Times newspaper at Port Darwin, George Washington Mayhew with wife, Mary Ann (known as Molly) and 3 year old son, Jack Mayhew (my Grandfather - AB :^) were visiting GWM's in-laws Kilfoyles at Rosewood station.
Tom Kilfoyle's wife Catherine (Catty) was Mary Ann's sister and there brother, Will, Mick & Jim, had been with the Duracks at Thylungra and had the first lease under House Roof Hill on the south side of the Ord River there, between Goose Hill and House Roof Hill, on what later became the Mantinea plain (named as Black Pat Durack later had a lease to the east of the Bryrne Brothers lease, between Wyndham and Kununurra.
The Byrne Bros lease is on the first Lands Dept cancelled public plan, from 1886 but by 1890 they had sold that lease and "moved their camp" to the "Six Mile," where the three brothers built the very first "Six Mile Hotel" that earned its own place in Kimberley history. Anything there before 1890 was no more than a tent shanty and not run by them. Once their new hotel was nearing completion they sent for their younger sisters, to come and help run the hotel. In 1890 the four Byrne sisters, from oldest [CHECK], Catherine (Cattie), Johanna, (Jo'), Mary Ann (Molly) and youngest in the family, Maggie. Imagine how popular their "Byrneside" Six Mile Hotel at Wyndham became, with four single, Australian born Irish girls, "running the pub!"
Cattie married Tom Kilfoyle in 1893, after which the rest of the girls moved to Port Darwin after the Byrne brothers sold the hotel. Mary Ann married George Washington Mayhew, the writer of the article used in the film.
(Kevin Richards brilliant and rare 16mm colour silent film - 6 min 24 sec)
Wyndham Aeradio - Rod Torrington (CAHS) Oral History Extract (9 min 45 sec :^)
[This is Lew Dwyer, the pilot's story of survival, in his own words. :^]
I created this while researching Wirraway A20-62 after finding a number of different photographs (many from the NT Library :^) of the many outdoor picture theatres (just like our own "Kununurra Picture Gardens :^) that they created out in the war-time bush of the Northern Territory, and right across the top end of Australia. I have visited the site of one at the WWII Secret Air Base, Truscott, on the Anjo Peninsular, between Vansitart Bay and Napier Broome Bay, just the metal frame left standing. Enjoy!
[This is raw capture to demonstrate how I use Google Earth Pro to overlay any old plan - which anyone can do - "Add Image Overlay" then tweak until it fits, Use slider to fade the plan in or out of view on Google Earth - Like in the DV - Watch at DOUBLE Speed (settings "wheel") as it is slo-o-o-o-ow. See the video description for more information. This was uploaded on May 20th 2020 but was "Private" until today - 20 III 2023 - "Wirraway-Challenge" Day on March 20th every year, Lest We Forget. :^]
That's all (for now! :^)
But come back again as new DVs are added, and as the footer says at the end of each page (below... :^)
Hope you enjoyed (our DVs :^)