Character Biographies
Alec Fong Lim
Shop assistant
Family owned business, Darwin
Alec Fong Lim was born in Katherine in 1931, and moved to Darwin with his family in 1938. His family was always in business; running general stores, cafes and tailor shops, before moving into hotels and wholesaling. His father, George Lim, was the first Chinese-Australian to buy a shop in the ‘white sector’ of Darwin, next door to the Star Theatre on Smith Street. The business was a success, and every family member worked in the shop.
The family was evacuated to Katherine prior to the first bombing of Darwin and then moved on to Alice Springs after Katherine was bombed. Alec went to boarding school, Scotch College, in Adelaide in 1944. He was the only Chinese-Australian boarder.
Returning to Darwin in 1946, Alec commenced a successful business career at the age of 16. He married Norma Chin in 1955, and they had six daughters. A keen sportsman and active in community affairs, Alec was elected Lord Mayor of Darwin in 1984, a position he held until ill-health forced him to resign in 1990.
Alec was a strong advocate of multiculturalism, urging a balance between the retention of cultural traditions and pride in being Australian. He died in September 1990, barely a month after relinquishing the role of Lord Mayor. The main road through East Point Recreation Reserve, Alec Fong Lim Drive, is named after him, as is the man-made lake in the midst of the same reserve, Lake Alexander.
Alex Rigby
Darwin Infantry Battalion
Australian Army
Alex Rigby was born in 1916 in Sydney and was a school cadet prior to joining the 55/53rd Battalion in 1937. He was commissioned in January 1939, and came to Darwin on the SS Zealandia in February 1941 to join the Darwin Infantry Battalion, which absorbed the Darwin Mobile Force.
After the war, Alex returned to Sydney and joined the family firm, Kell & Rigby, as a builder and quantity surveyor. He retired after 51 years with the company. He was the first President of the Darwin Infantry Battalion Association and often returned to Darwin for commemorative activities.
Wing Commander Archibald Tindal
Area Defence Officer
Royal Australian Air Force
Archibald Tindal was born in Hampshire, England, in January 1916. In September of that year his father was killed on the Somme, one of the bloodiest battlefields of World War I.
Archibald grew up in Armidale, New South Wales, and joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a cadet pilot in 1934. He quickly moved up the ranks, and by 1939 he was a Flight Lieutenant. With the onset of war he continued to advance; he was made Squadron Leader in 1940 and then Wing Commander in January 1942. At this time he was the Area Defence Officer of the RAAF’s Northern Area Headquarters.
Archibald was killed in action at the RAAF base in Darwin. His death is believed to be the first RAAF fatality in actual combat on Australian soil. He is buried in the Adelaide River War Cemetery. The RAAF airfield at Katherine, which also serves as a domestic airport, is named after him.
Arthur Murch
Official War Artist
In 1924, Arthur Murch abandoned his career as an engineering draughtsman in Sydney to become a full-time artist. His sculptural work won him the 1925 New South Wales (NSW) Travelling Art Scholarship and allowed him to go to Europe and explore paintings ‘as if I were a pilgrim traversing the years’. He travelled widely in Italy and was strongly influenced by the work of the Italian Primitives and Renaissance artists. When he returned to Australia in 1927, he worked as George Lambert's studio assistant until Lambert's death in 1930. Sculptural commissions dominated these years.
After a sojourn in Europe from 1936 to 1940, Arthur began to experiment with Modernist developments in colour and form. His notes from that time show his fascination with the work of the French Impressionists, Cézanne and Seurat. He began teaching modelling and drawing at East Sydney Technical College in the 1930s, and returned there after his years as an official war artist.
Arthur was appointed as an official war artist for six months during World War II, to cover the military activities of United States forces in Central Australia, Darwin and on Thursday Island. In particular, Arthur was to paint a portrait of General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the south-west Pacific. However, this proposal was abandoned. Instead, it was decided that Arthur should depict military activities in the Northern Territory, such as the Japanese raids on Darwin. In November 1942, whilst in Darwin, Arthur's health collapsed and he was admitted to hospital. On returning to Sydney in February 1943, Arthur was diagnosed with a streptococcal infection. Consequently, his appointment as an official war artist concluded on 17 May 1943.
Arthur won the Archibald Prize in 1949 with a portrait of fellow artist Bonar Dunlop, and was represented in the touring exhibition ‘Art and Australia 1788–1941’, presented by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1941–45). After his death in 1989, Arthur was given a tribute exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW (1990) and a retrospective exhibition of his work toured regional NSW in 1992. His work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Australian War Memorial and most state and regional galleries.
Aubrey Abbott
Administrator of Northern Territory
Hilda Abbott
Wife of Aubrey Abbott
Serving in the 12th Light Horse Regiment during World War I, Aubrey Abbott, (1886–1975), fell ill in the Sinai and was invalided to England in 1916. While in London he married Hilda Harnett (1890–1984), before returning to his regiment for the remainder of the war. He continued to serve in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) until February 1920.
Aubrey and Hilda settled in country New South Wales and Aubrey entered politics, winning the Federal seat of Gwydir in 1925. He served in the seat, with the exception of the years 1929–1931, until 1937, when he was appointed Administrator of the Northern Territory.
In a time of industrial dispute and impending war, Aubrey Abbott was widely regarded as insensitive and arrogant. He alienated the union movement, was considered paternalistic in regards to Aboriginal affairs, and generally obstructive when working with the military in planning for the defence of Darwin in the event of a Japanese attack. Hilda was active in Darwin society, although her conservative moral outlook often clashed with the free-and-easy manners of the Top End.
Aubrey Abbott vigorously defended himself against a range of allegations presented in the 1942 Lowe Royal Commission of Inquiry, which investigated the Japanese air-raid of 19 February. Many of these allegations were based on rumour and innuendo and had little or no basis in fact. However, some were true, particularly those regarding his poor relationship with the military leadership in Darwin.
Hilda and Aubrey both worked hard to effect an orderly evacuation after the events of 19 February 1942, and Aubrey remained in Darwin until 2 March. He joined Hilda in Alice Springs and continued to work in a limited capacity as Administrator from there until he returned to Darwin in July 1945. Less than a year later he left the Territory on sick leave and was replaced immediately.
Despite this, Aubrey and Hilda continued to advocate for the Territory through newspaper articles and publications. Aubrey died in 1975 and Hilda passed away in 1984.
‘The Territory has been an unlucky child. Nobody loved it. Many legislators regarded it as the bastard child of the Australian family. Nevertheless I have complete faith in its future.’
Aubrey Abbott
Ben Hingston
Mechanic /Trucking contractor
Air Raid Precautions (ARP)
Ben Hingston was born in rural Tasmania in 1904. He was a skilled mechanic and pilot who had travelled across Australia seeking work in a range of areas. In 1939, he bought a car and a truck in Sydney and advertised for paying passengers to Darwin. Upon arrival he began a partnership in a mechanical engineering business, a move that was very successful in the boom conditions of Darwin prior to the Japanese bombings.
Ben was in charge of transport for the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) operations and swung into action when the first Japanese attack occurred. He assisted in rescue work and evacuations until the 13th raid on Darwin. Enough was enough. By war’s end he had a truck sales and repair business in Townsville and moved quickly to purchase war-surplus trucks in Alice Springs. Before the end of 1945 Ben had the first civilian contract to offload cargo on the Darwin wharves. So successful was this venture that other haulers soon formed the Darwin Truck Owners’ Association in order to compete with him. In later years he had a number of garages and dealerships in the Northern Territory and interstate.
Betty Duke
Typist in Censor’s Office
Northern Territory Administration
Volunteer Nurse
Kahlin Hospital
Betty Duke (nee Page) was born in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1917. In February 1939, she accompanied her sister and her family to Darwin. When war broke out she volunteered with the hospital and got a job with the Censor’s Office as a typist. She was at work when the Japanese first bombed Darwin. She grabbed her first-aid kit and ran to help but was hit by shrapnel and suffered a head wound and burns to her body. Forced to run for cover she fled the hospital; then the second bombing raid began. She was evacuated to Adelaide and, after her recovery, worked for munitions in Melbourne and Sydney for the duration of the war.
She married Mack Duke in 1948, having first met him in Darwin in 1939 when he served with the Darwin Mobile Force.
‘Mack, my husband, whom I met in Darwin, he couldn’t have been a better person, because I knew that I was the one and only thing in his life.’
Betty Duke
Betty Humble
Typist
Northern Territory Administration
Darwin Evacuee
Betty Humble (nee Hayles) was born in Townsville in 1923 and came to Darwin in 1930 with her family. Her father, Jack Hayles, operated the government boat-run to the Daly and Victoria Rivers, Cape Don Lighthouse, Bathurst Island and Port Essington. Betty worked at a number of jobs, including dental assistant, switchboard operator, shop assistant and finally typist with the Northern Territory Administration.
Her future husband, Peter Humble, arrived in Darwin in 1938, with the advance party of the Darwin Mobile Force. They married two days before her mother was evacuated in December 1941. Betty was evacuated in January 1942, after her husband expressed his fear that an attack was in the offing.
Able Seaman Bill Chipman
Anti-Submarine Boom Defence
Royal Australian Navy
Trevor William (Bill) Chipman was born in Tasmania in 1920. He was called up for naval service in 1939, and came to Darwin on the SS Montoro in March 1941. Most of his service was with the anti-submarine boom defence, both in the depot and on HMAS Kangaroo and HMAS Kookaburra.
He was on the Kangaroo during the first Japanese air-raid on Darwin and was manning a Lewis gun. He was involved in salvage work after the raids.
Bill left Darwin in October 1942, but returned for further service in 1944. Apart from these years he has lived in Tasmania: 30 years in Hobart and the remainder in Launceston. He has returned to Darwin for commemorative services and events.
‘I was thinking that there might have been a lot of people from the boom defence … but to-date I’ve met only two people … and one of those, strangely enough, happened to be my offsider on the Lewis gun on the Kangaroo; and that was a great thrill for me and a great thrill for Frank Hirsch himself too, who never expected to meet up with me.’
Bruce Acland
Civilian Radio Operator
Civil Aeradio
Department of Civil Aviation
Bruce Acland was born in Sydney in 1920. He came to Darwin in mid-1940, as a civilian radio operator with the Department of Civil Aviation, and remained until October 1942. He experienced many Japanese air-raids and survived several near-misses during the bombings and strafings.
Bruce received a King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct in June 1943. The citation reads: ‘Radio Operator Acland, who was on duty at Darwin during the first and many subsequent raids, stuck to his post and sent out an alarm signal while the radio hut was under machine-gun fire.’
Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 1943
‘I personally received recognition, buts it’s a decoration that I’ve never worn. I’ve been told by people who should know that what I said couldn’t possibly have happened. I’ve been told by a RAAF bloke that all the civilians were evacuated out of Darwin. That’s what he honestly believed. I put him right. But he sort of challenged the fact that I’d been there.’
Bruce Acland
Bruce eventually moved into the more technical side of radio operations and constructed systems for aerodromes around the country. He has returned to Darwin as a visitor on many occasions.
Charles See Kee
Private Secretary to Northern Territory Administrator
Northern Territory Administration
Charles See Kee was born in Hong Kong in 1913. His father had an import/export business operating from Thursday Island and, as a child, Charles travelled between Australia, Japan and China. After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree at university he worked for his father’s business and then managed a British brewery in China. When the Japanese invaded China in 1938 he left for Australia, arriving in Darwin to stay with his brother.