SEC

ON

D Q

UA

RTER

09

p2 p3

Neighbours forever:

Promoting Territory business in Timor-Leste 4

Barkly bonanza: Minemakers Limited 10

INPEX: Engaging with local business 14

Thunder business 17

The Shanghai express to Darwin 20

A bite of the apple: Papunya Tula takes on the Yanks 22

New markets for Indigenous art 24

Good business at Mistake Creek 26

The grandfather of all camel races 30

The Bradshaw quadbike gang 34

Monadelphous: The local advantage 36

Growing on gas and oil: Fingers Aluminium 40

Market food: Darwin's unique cuisine 42

Just add water: Agriculture breaks out in the desert 46

Commercialising the Bitch Box 49

Territory volunteer holidays 50

Have house, will travel: Nimble Homes 54

REGULAR FEATURES:Tall Poppy: Ken Warriner 8

Fast Facts: The Territory economy 55

Stephen Garnett on the knowledge economy:

Planning for change 52

Paddock to Plate: Purple reign 56

Parting Shots! 58

p3

AcknowledgementsTerritory Q is published by the

Department of the Chief Minister,Northern Territory Government.

Correspondence should be directed to the Department of the Chief Minister,

Major Projects, Asian Relations and Trade, GPO Box 4396,

Darwin, NT 0801,Australia

Telephone 08 8999 7171Email majorprojects.info@nt.gov.au

WritersDennis Schulz

Stephen GarnettSamantha McCue

Gabrielle Parker

PhotographicsDennis Schulz

SEVPHOTO.COM Moving Pictures

INPEXLuke Scholes - Papunya Tula Artists

Warlukurlangu ArtistsTourism NT

Trek LarapintaSamantha McCue

Design/layoutAdzu, Darwin

Special thanks toMinemakers

© Northern Territory Government 2009While all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure

that the information contained in this publication is correct, the information covered is subject to change.

The Northern Territory Government does not assume and hereby disclaims any express or implied liability whatsoever

to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether these errors or omissions result

from negligence, accident or any other cause. Opinions expressed in Territory Q do not necessarily refl ect those of

the Northern Territory Government. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed

to Communications and Marketing, Department of the Chief Minister, Northern Territory Government. All images

appearing in Territory Q are protected by copyright.

page34

On your bikewith the Bradshaw gang

Cover > Camel racing at Alice Springs. Photo by Moving Pictures.

Welcome to the 14th

edition of Territory Q,

the magazine that

promotes business and

investment opportunities

across the Territory.

Territory Q connects us with national and international audiences, and keeps Territorians up-to-date with what’s happening in their own back yard.

In this issue INPEX’s Darwin manager Sean Kildare talks about how Territory businesses can engage with his company as it progresses its massive LNG project.

We travel to Newcastle Waters station, the new corporate home of the Consolidated Pastoral Company, and speak with its managing director, Tall Poppy Ken Warriner.

The message from Territory Q has never been clearer: the Territory is a great place to live and make a living—and a place of unlimited opportunity—with fresh approaches to doing business.

Paul HendersonChief Minister of the Northern Territory

The Northern Territory Government respects

Indigenous cultures and has attempted to

ensure no material has been included in

Territory Q that is offensive to Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander peoples.

It was the overriding theme of the Chief Minister’s Ministerial Delegation to Timor-Leste—‘Neighbours Forever’, an adage used enthusiastically over the two-day visit to Dili by both Northern Territorian and the East Timorese ministers. Chief Minister Paul Henderson brought a 60 strong contingent of government ministers, business people and Territory public servants, including Darwin Lord Mayor Graeme Sawyer, over to Dili to “look at the business opportunities in East Timor,” he said, opening the Northern Territory Business Forum. “We have the shipping links and the air links, so the commercial links should be strengthened.”

p4 p5

Above > Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson presents Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta with a signed Casuarina football jumper, celebrating the sporting ties between Darwin and Dili.

Advanced Education, was contracted by PDL Toll to train six Timorese students in a pilot cookery program. PDL Toll was awarded the logistics contract including catering, medical services, and transport for the Australian Defence Forces in East Timor.

They chose existing Timorese kitchen staff with good skills, and provided a curriculum plus qualifi ed chef and trainer. ICAE did the assessment and the students were paid to do the course. Toll gave them pay rises as they accomplished every phase of the course. The six fi nished with visiting Chief Minister Henderson on hand to present them with their Certifi cate II in Kitchen Operations, much to the delight of their families gathered for the occasion.

ICAE will now expand permanently to Dili having since won a contract with AusAid that will be an expansion of this PDL Toll project. “It’s genuinely putting something back in the community,” smiles ICAE chairman Sean Mahoney. “On the job training is far better, in my view, than institutional learning for vocations like this. Colleges have their place, but learning in your own workplace with your colleagues, using your own equipment, ticks all the boxes.”

After a breakfast the following day at the home of Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta, the Nobel Laureate echoed the Chief Minister’s remarks saying, “We are 600km apart—one hour fl ight away—so the geography and the community make it the natural logic that the two cities of Darwin and Dili should develop closer relations. Trade can increase in tourism and Timor-Leste can purchase more consumer goods and industrial equipment. There can be more Australian construction companies involved over the next few years as we further develop our road network, bridges and port, with more and more housing around the country.”

Many of the business contingent were seeing Dili for the fi rst time, the delegation a catalyst for a visit to a country that enjoyed a 12 per cent growth in GDP last year. Ross Finocchiaro of Darwin’s Gaymark Property Investments saw the delegation as an opportunity not to be missed. “I always wanted to come to East Timor, but never made it for one reason or another,” he said. “But when I heard the Chief was taking a delegation, I couldn’t pass up the chance to come along.”

But for many Territorians, doing business in Timor-Leste has been ongoing for over a decade. Territorians are local leaders in accommodation and hospitality, construction and transport. Some have been doing business here for generations, outlasting a litany of colonial regimes. Most of the Jape family, best known in Darwin for their Homemaker Village suburban shopping complex, were born in Maubara, 50km from Dili. They believe Timor-Leste suffers from an ongoing reputation for instability. “People actually have to travel here to see it,” explains Tony Jape, director of the Jape Group. “The [business] seminar and delegation is good because it gives people the opportunity to come have a look. They can see it’s safe and normal.”

The Jape Group is currently involved in the construction of the fi rst stage of its $30 million Timor Plaza project, the fi rst modern shopping centre in the country. The $10 million Stage One is a four storey structure featuring retail shops on the fi rst two levels, the third level designated as offi ce space, and top storey residential accommodation. Now under construction,

the retail shops are scheduled to open at the year’s end, with the top two storeys early in 2010. Stage Two and Three of the project will occur over the next few years.

Timor Plaza will signal a radical change in Timor Leste retail. Shopping in the country currently is ‘old time Asian’—most shops are mixed, offering a variety of different goods. The Japes are trying to elevate the standard of presentation for locals and tourists alike: a specialised shoe shop, a fashion boutique, a medical centre, and a bank. “We’ll need to impart a lot of education,” says Group managing director Alan Jape. “Timorese business people have to understand the standards we’re setting. We’ll have to set rules on how they will dress up their shops. We have to improve on the old way.”

A food court in the style of those in Darwin’s Casuarina Shopping Square and shopping centres across Australia is designed for the centre of the new development, a plan that interests delegation member Jennie Black of Independent Grocers.

Independent is currently celebrating 10 years of supplying Timor businesses

from its sprawling facility in the Darwin Business Park. They started supplying emergency rations to the UN, Federal Police, and Australian troops, then to cafés and shops like Territorian Robert Crean’s Tiger Fuel operation. “They are now friends as well as business partners,” says Black. “We’ve all been dealing with each other for a long time so it’s not just business. It’s a special relationship.”

One of those Dili clients is importer, retailer, wholesaler, exporter Carmelita Ly, whose Lita Store is a Dili landmark. It’s a shop where the choice of goods is nothing short of spectacular. This fi nancial year her export company in Darwin, Lising Trading (which also includes her husband’s Toyota franchise), exported $5.6 million to East Timor until the end of June. She imports all goods from Darwin on Perkins Shipping, the Darwin-based company that has made regular scheduled runs to Dili for a decade.

Ly also wholesales most of the consumer goods she imports from Australia to other Timor-Leste shops around the country. But the Lita Store is still the company centrepiece servicing expats and locals equally. “I want to expand the Lita Store

within the next two years, as long as the political situation is stable.” she says. “If your country grows, you also must grow and contribute to show people from overseas that East Timor is doing well and it’s safe to come here.”

Not all exports from Darwin, however, are food or retail-based. Lino Lopes and his sons own Darwin’s Japanese Engine in Darwin, and set up EDS (Express Distribution Services) in Dili in 2000. Lopes was a Timorese national before escaping to Darwin in 1975. He returned in 1999 and saw the need for a transport service to deliver aid to rural villages. He imported one truck from Darwin, operating for a month before buying a second. “I never thought the transport industry here would need so many trucks,” he says. “This year alone, I went back to Darwin and spent $600,000 in trucks and machinery, and brought it all back here. We now have 60 trucks and 4WDs in the Dili fl eet.”

Another economic growth area is in training. A massive skills shortage in Timor-Leste is delaying development in many areas of the local economy. One Darwin-based registered training company, International College of

p6 p7

“We’ve all been dealing with each

other for a long time so it’s not just

business. It’s a special relationship.”

Far top left > Graduate trainees working for PDL Toll in Defence support.Far bottom left > Tony and Alan Jape at the site of their Timor Plaza shopping centre development.Centre > Carmelita Ly in the Lita Store.Image left > Lino Lopes with his fl eet of trucks.Image below > Dili's busy wharf.

regular feature:

While many 67-year-olds are considering retirement,

Ken Warriner has started the next chapter in his

remarkable pastoral career. He has begun the process

of guiding Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC)

into a dramatic new corporate era. For 28

years Warriner operated Australia’s second largest

cattle production company in an inspired partnership

with the late Kerry Packer. But in March Packer’s son

James sold his family’s 90 per cent of CPC

to English investment company Terra Firma for a reported fi gure of over

$400 million. The acquisition included 17 CPC cattle

properties in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern

Territory and Western Australia (the Kimberley)

comprising fi ve million hectares and over 300,000

cattle. Seven of those stations are in the Territory.

Warriner holds on to his 10 per cent share in CPC and continues as managing director, operating the company and a variety of associated businesses from the sprawling Newcastle Waters station 700km south of Darwin. It is a company he started in 1983 with Kerry Packer. Did the sale surprise him? “There’s a lot of properties being sold at the moment in the north, and I guess the opportunity came along that gave James Packer the opportunity to get out,” says Warriner. “There’s not too many people that can come along with that sort of money, so he took the opportunity. No, it didn’t surprise me. Life goes on. It’s just a bit sad not to be involved with them after 40 years of involvement.”

The new owner is a London-based investment fi rm that has no background in agriculture. According to its website, “Terra Firma seeks businesses that have a market-leading position—or provide a platform for add-on acquisitions that will create a market-leading position.” Does this mean there will be changes in CPC’s operating procedures? “I don’t think so, but when you get into bed with somebody new, it takes a while to sort things out,” explains

Warriner. “They want to develop it a lot quicker than what we were doing.

We had a program in place to quietly develop these places over the next few

years. They’re keen to go a little faster to get to where we wanted to get to with cattle numbers on the properties that we currently own. I think if the right opportunities came around they’d want to expand it a little more.”

He believes CPC’s future to be bright and, while it was a condition of the sale that he keep his shares in the company, he has since purchased more. “It’s a great groupof properties. It fi ts in well with thesouth-east Asian live export trade. And if that ever diminished, I think that it’s not impossible that the meatworks trade will start up here again. The cattle are good enough for that now. We used to own the Katherine meatworks but there wasn’t the quality cattle that there is now,” he says.

Ken Warriner would know, having watched the evolution of the industry from the inside. Fascinated with the beef trade from the early days growing up in Gympie, he worked in the sale yards two afternoons a week before going droving to the Territory in 1960. He has been in the Territory and the Kimberley ever since. He graduated to head stockman and manager of Kenmore Park near Alice Springs before taking over Brunette Downs for the King Ranch Pastoral Company. He was general manager with King Ranch on Mt House station when he fi rst met Kerry Packer 40 years ago.

After visiting Warriner in the Kimberley and at Newcastle Waters, where Warriner had become a partner in the Ashburton Pastoral Company, Packer decided to buy Ashburton and go into a partnership with Warriner. CPC was born with Warriner at the helm, slowly developing the properties while acquiring new ones and eventually taking more shares in the company.

Warriner also invested in businesses associated with the northern cattle trade, partnering

in industry-leading companies such as Road Trains Australia and Australian Fuel Distributors. He was the chairman of the Consolidated Meat Group, which was owned by CPC and is now controlled by Teys Brothers in partnership with James Packer. He operated livestock traders Austrex and GRM International, a consultancy fi rm managing a wide range of development projects worldwide. A decision as to whether GRM and Austrex stays with CPC, or is sold off, is yet to be made.

While he has cast an enormous shadow over the Territory cattle industry in a host of related areas, Warriner remains particularly proud of his cattle breeding efforts at Newcastle Waters. “The stud on this place [Newcastle Waters] is one of the bigger ones that you’ll fi nd anywhere,” he explains. “There are 30 single sire herds here—where you have 50 cows with one bull. And 4000 cows are in the stud breeding herd here. Then there’s a smaller stud called Allawah where we do the embryo and AI [artifi cial insemination] work in Queensland.”

Following the sale of CPC new doors are opening for the company and for Ken Warriner. His days are spent travelling between properties and setting the foundations in place for the new owners. “We’re creating everything for Terra Firma in Australia,” says Warriner. “Where before we had been coat-tailing the Packer camp, we now have to set up everything: legal, accountants, auditors and the rest. It’s a big job but it’s exciting.”

tltlttltltlttlltttltltttt e e e eee eeeeeee e momomomomoomommomomm rererererererererrrr .”.”.”.”.”.”.””.”

p8 p9

A standing room only crowd of locals fi lled the Tennant Creek Visitor Centre to hear the plans Minemakers Limited has for its $107 million Wonarah phosphate project that will use their town as its base. It is a project that, not surprisingly, has aroused widespread interest in the area, with the company likely to require local services and offer jobs to an estimated 200 people at the start of the project. Questions from the audience were raised about environmental rehabilitation and opportunities for Indigenous training, but most focused on employment prospects: what sorts of jobs would be on offer, and where would those jobs be located?

p10 p11

This image > An exploration drill team at work on the Minemakers lease in the Barkly region.

p12 p13

The mining executive speakers made a presentation that explained all aspects of the project in detail, putting the Tennant Creek plans in the context of the ‘big picture.’ As they were speaking, Minemakers’ exploration teams were already working, drilling deep into the earth below the Barkly Tableland, 240km east of Tennant Creek in an effort to establish the extent of the Wonarah rock phosphate deposit. It looks to be enormous.

on a ship, and after a series of stages rose to US$450, and since the fi nancial crisis it’s trading at the US$150 to $200 a tonne, FOB Morocco,” says Drummond.

Drummond has just spent the past month visiting the business capitals of the world with the unenviable task of enlisting investment in the project during a slumping economic environment. It is a fi nancial crisis

“If people haven’t got semi-trailer licences to drive between Tennant Creek and Wonarah, there are still opportunities for people in Tennant to work out in the minesite or at the local camp,” says Bergin.

The Tennant Creek audience applauded the miners’ presentation. So often, one speaker noted, they had heard promises of wealth and jobs that never materialised. But here was a company that went to the trouble of outlining their project in detail, realistically, with no glossy guarantees, but offering the potential for employment and long term economic activity to a community eager to get involved.

It is hoped that, after a few years of trucking the material, a rail line can be constructed, designed to cut the cost of moving the phosphate to Darwin. A feasibility study of a 240km rail link is currently being examined by the Australian Transport and Energy Corridor (ATEC). It is a link that could form part of a future Tennant Creek to Mt Isa line. The rail link could be expected to lower Minemakers’ operating costs, potentially allowing higher production output over the 3 million tonne limit set by road haulage.

The phosphate will initially be trucked to a proposed multi-user rail hub to be built

independently by railway specialist Bill Gibbins of Global Port Solutions. Designed to attract other bulk handling clients, Minemakers will be the $10 million hub’s foundation customer. Construction is soon to start on the 6km long, 3km wide siding located 15km outside Tennant Creek. “I thought that we could provide one central common user facility where mines could come in and get on the rail,” explains Gibbins. “We found the site and will put the basics in. Then we’ll see what happens from there.”

At the town meeting, Neville Bergin addressed the employment issue to the overfl ow group.

“We estimate that 140 to 150 people will be accommodated during the trucking operation, and that’s truck drivers, maintenance crews, and support staff. We’re going to have to get them to Tennant Creek and house them during their rostered cycle, so we need to build a village in Tennant and at Wonarah. While we hope to draw a number of people from Tennant Creek, the reality is a lot of those people are going to have to come from somewhere else.”

The company will probably have to source employees where existing regional mining skills are located, like Mt Isa or Katherine.

“The traditional owners at the Wonarah community

are very supportive of the project. They see it as

an opportunity for some of their people to return

to the area for jobs and training.”

“Our exploration lease covers over 1000 sq km and most of that country is known to have phosphate at some level underneath it,” explains Andrew Drummond, Minemakers’ managing director. “We’ve been trying to concentrate on the better mineralised areas and work close to the surface. We’ve already got nearly half a billion tonnes in resources so far, enough to underpin a long-life mine.”

Geologist Drummond and mining engineer project manager Neville Bergin delivered the presentation on the Wonarah project to their wary Tennant Creek audience, many of whom have seen too many mining companies come and go over the years. Minemakers, they heard, was listed in 2006 by directors who correctly believed mineral prices were due to rise. They decided that they could acquire large deposits of mineralisation in Australia where work had been done in discovery but the commodity was previously not worth enough to go on to the mining stage. A price increase would make those deposits economically viable. Wonarah was one of those deposits, and in 2007 the price of phosphate skyrocketed.

Two of the world’s producers of rock phosphate, an essential ingredient in fertilisers, dropped out of international trade, leaving the world export market to Morocco. Then Morocco, who is to phosphate what Saudi Arabia is to oil, jacked up the price. “The two things that made Wonarah viable were the construction of the north-south railway, and the Moroccans increasing the price of phosphate. It was US$50 loaded

that has severely impacted on the minerals industry, depressing demand. “But the beauty of phosphate is that while someone might elect not to buy a new car, they will always continue to eat,” says Drummond. “And that means consuming fertiliser and that fertiliser has to be replaced.

Meanwhile, drilling continues on site as the company moves through its approval processes. They have fi led a Notice of Intent to Mine with NT Government, which has granted the company Major Project Status, designed to facilitate the progress of their approval process by ensuring each Government agency addresses their part of the process in a timely fashion. They are forming a relationship with the Aboriginal land owners. “The traditional owners at the Wonarah community are very supportive of the project,” states Bergin. “They see it as an opportunity for some of their people to return to the area for jobs and training. We’ve also concluded an exploration agreement with the group and will be negotiating a mining agreement.”

The initial plan is to truck the phosphate to the railway line where it will be loaded onto a train headed to the port of Darwin. An armada of 45 trucks will eventually be required to haul the ore, an exercise that will be contracted to an outside operator. “Out philosophy has been to externalise as much of the capital as possible,” says Bergin. “We will contract out freight from the minesite to the ship, contract out mining and contract out the construction of the village and all servicing.”

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At a recent function celebrating the opening of INPEX’s Darwin offi ce, Chief Minister Paul Henderson hailed the Japanese energy giant as “corporate citizens of the highest order.” He said that the opening of the INPEX offi ce in Darwin was an event worth celebrating because it brought us one step closer to development of this world-class project. “It’s brought economic confi dence to the Northern Territory, and underpins the confi dence so evident in the business community here tonight.”

With the fi nal investment decision as the next major milestone in 2010, INPEX has awarded both the Onshore and the Offshore FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) contracts to Australian and international companies. They will oversee the design of an offshore natural gas facility in the Browse Basin off the Western Australian coast and the 850km pipeline to a Liquid Natural Gas production plant in Darwin Harbour, in a project valued over US $20 billion. INPEX’s Darwin general manager Sean Kildare spoke to TQ about what form the project will take.

SK – The commencement of FEED is a signal that we have formally settled on our concept. The project itself, starting from the offshore component, includes sub-sea drilling centres with wells and fl owlines to manifolds and fl exible risers that connect up to a Central Processing Facility (CPF). That CPF is designed to be semi-submersible. So the traditional image of an offshore oil and gas facility that has a steel jacket with legs into the seabed, is not what we’re doing. The water out there’s too deep and the sediment too soft.

TQ – What does a semi-submersible look like?

SK – It’s roughly a large square-shaped structure that has series of production modules and cranes on the top side, sitting on a hull that is made up of a series of large pylons going down into the water with its buoyancy maintained by these pylons resting on large pontoons under the water. And it’s held in place by very large anchor chains.

TQ – From there we go to a pipeline.

SK – The raw product is produced through the wells and sent up to the platform where some the liquids are separated out on the platform and sent off to a fl oating production storage and off-take tanker moored nearby. Those liquids will be exported from the offshore location.

The gas will be de-hydrated and then compressed and exported along a sub sea pipeline all the way to Darwin. Once it’s arrived it will go through another phase of treatment and all impurities stripped away. The gas is then entered into the LNG production train. There’ll be two trains. And to overly simplify it, an LNG production

train is essentially a big refrigerator where you take the temperature of the gas down to minus 163 degrees Celsius. Then you have LNG.

It’s stored in tanks and every other day an export tanker will arrive to load the LNG and all the other LPG and condensate liquids we took from the gas stream. We’ll have a cycle of approximately two to three LNG carriers a week.

TQ – Will the storage tanks be as large as the existing ConocoPhillips tank at Wickham Point?

SK – We haven’t settled on the fi nal size but we can expect it will be of a similar size. We are looking at all of the options we have of managing the contrast of the silhouette of the plant against the skyline behind it. We are fortunate that Blaydin Point is further to the east than other parts of Middle Arm, so the visibility will not be as prominent.

TQ – How does your background as an environmental scientist impact the project?

SK – Being a senior manager within INPEX, I bring in a very clear understanding of the nature of environmental risks, of the nature of northern ecosystems, and what it takes to operate with some care to reduce the risks of operating in these environments. I have a very fi rm view that development and conservation can co-exist, and it just takes careful planning to achieve that outcome.

TQ – Do we know what areas of construction will be done overseas and which in Darwin?

SK – We don’t because our FEED has only just started, and it is through the FEED process that we’ll start to address these questions: what do we require to develop this project and where is the most viable, the most technically competent and best capacity to develop this project? LNG projects are massive, and require an international effort to get them done.

TQ – You’ve been engaging with the local business community in forums, so generally speaking, how would you characterise the capacity of the local industry?

SK – I’ve been doing business up here for 15 years and in my view the Darwin business community punches well above its weight.

p14 p15

Top left > Offshore drilling by INPEX in the Browse Basin.Bottom left > Sean Kildare jokes with the Consul-General of Japan, Nobuhito Hobo, at the function celebrating the opening of the new INPEX.Bottom centre > The crowd gathered for the function at Pee Wees at the Point.Bottom right > Administrator Tom Pauling shares a yarn with Chief Minister Paul Henderson andINPEX president Naoki Kuroda at the function.

It was one of those rare ideas everyone

agreed upon: start up a Territory Australian

Rules football team made up of the best players from across the Territory to play

in one of the national semi-professional

competitions. It would be a team that would

be predominantly Aboriginal, the very

players who have set the AFL alight with

their stunning speed and skilful agility.

But fi nance has always been the barrier to such a move. How could such a team make a profi t after paying salaries and

travel costs from just the gate takings from

small cities like Darwin and Alice Springs?

p17

One of the fi rst contracts INPEX has issued for site work in 2009 on the prospective Middle Arm project site went to THE Mining and long time Territory heavy machinery contractor Tony Harbrow. The work consists of assisting with the upgrading of access tracks and clearing for heavy equipment to get in so the company can initiate its geotechnical program.

THE Mining is one of the fi rst local companies to win work with INPEX, in its early pre-development stage. “We were able to qualify to be able to tender through the NTICN [Northern Territory Industry Capability Network] and we went from there,” explains Harbrow. “These jobs were advertised on the NTICN website, and we hope we’re invited to tender on other jobs for INPEX in the future. They’re very straightforward and seem to be a fair dinkum company.”

Harbrow’s family has been in the mining game in the Pine Creek area for over 35 years as mine operators and contractors. In 1995 Harbrow struck out on his own, contracting heavy machinery. Since then his company has worked in Western Australia at the Argyle Diamond mine, and a variety of other northern locations.

Offering a client the latest in heavy equipment is an important feature of THE Mining’s business philosophy. “It’s survival of the fi ttest with a modern fl eet of equipment because nobody wants old equipment on their site,” says Harbrow. “In excess of 90 per cent of our equipment is current models, and it’s among the most modern and reliable in the Territory. That’s something that gives you an edge over the competition.”

There is capacity. There is commitment. There is innovation. There is a range of businesses up here, both small and medium, that understand major resource projects, have participated with those projects in the past, and understand what it takes to deliver a service or product to get these projects into operation.

It’s also unique that Darwin has some fairly signifi cant modern infrastructure, capable of supporting major development. It’s a city that has an international airport,

rail connecting it with the rest of Australia, major road network and an industrial port facility. All of these features are attractive to major project developers who can leverage this to assist the project to have a more certain development schedule.

TQ – The NTICN (Northern Territory Industry Capability Network) is already playing a strong role in the project.

SK – NTICN has been a really great resource for INPEX to facilitate Territory businesses

to get in the right shape to access the upcoming work packages through their Project Gateway online. I strongly suggest that any businesses who may be interested in participating in the project to register with NTICN and keep a watching brief on the work packages as they come up.

TQ – Have there been any contracts already rewarded?

SK – Yes. INPEX has moved into town and we are investing in Darwin. We’ve recently awarded a vegetation-clearing and earthmoving civil contract out on Blaydin Point to assist us with our geotechnical assessment program this year. That was to THE Mining. There has also been work awarded to a local architectural fi rm, and we’ve started to lease apartments, offi ce space and vehicles.

INPEX sees itself as a part of Darwin’s business community. We’ve opened an offi ce here, I’ve moved here, and my wife and I have had our fi rst child here. So, not only do we want to be part of the business community, but the social community as well. We want INPEX to be seen as a valued member of the community all round.

p16

Above > Sean Kildare addresses the NT business community at the Darwin Convention Centre.Below > Tony Harbrow with his fl eet of earthmovers.

This image > The Thunder take the fi eld at TIO Stadium in Darwin.

The answer came from the Territory’s football governing body, the AFLNT, its CEO Tony Frawley, and the Territory’s former Essendon great, Michael Long. They devised a business plan that did not rely on gate takings or TV rights or membership, but concentrates on the social benefi ts such a team could inspire among Indigenous players.

Their goals were: the team would become the highest profi le Australian Football team outside the AFL, selected from regional communities across the Territory. They aimed to increase the number of players drafted by the AFL, and, importantly, ruled that all players must be working or engaged in training to be available for selection. “It’s making sure players are developing in football, but are developing off the fi eld as well,” says Thunder general manager, Stuart Totham. “If an Indigenous player comes into our program and we fi nd him work, he may be in our program for three or four years. And when he goes out of our program and back into the community, we like to think he’ll take some skills he’s developed back to the community with him.”

After becoming Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd was asked to become patron of the new Territory Thunder, an honour he proudly accepted, even though two QAFL teams are located in his electorate.

Long was instrumental in getting the AFL and Qantas onboard. Qantas 2IC John Borghetti is a tough man to get to see, but he did not hesitate to see Long. Borghetti said, “don’t give me a presentation or anything—we’re in”. “Michael Long’s power with corporate and government is amazing,” observes Frawley. “He got us into Qantas. He got us into Pratt. The AFL love him. He’s powerful because he knows footy, but he knows how powerful the team can be outside footy as well. The Thunder is his baby.”

They returned to Pratt who promised a half million as well. “So Richard Pratt really started the team. And he called it ‘my team.’ He was the catalyst who got it going through Michael Long,” says Frawley. Richard Pratt has since passed away following a long battle with cancer.

One other major sponsor was required and a number of prominent Territory-

But would sponsors be interested in such a plan? Coincidentally, in 2007 Michael Long was on a Victorian water advisory board with billionaire businessman and former Carlton player, Richard Pratt.

After one meeting, Pratt, a noted philanthropist, told Long that he wanted to invest some money in Territory footy. Long told Frawley who arranged a meeting to tell Pratt of their team and business plan.

At their fi rst meeting, Frawley showed Pratt a video of Territory Indigenous kids playing football, intercut with Territory players in the AFL taking soaring marks. It stressed that investing in a Territory team could make a real difference in the lives of Indigenous kids. The video struck a nerve with Pratt, his eyes fi lling with tears. He decided to invest in a team that would develop not only spectacular AFL players but role models for their communities. But he also issued a challenge to Frawley: go back and get the Federal Government, the Northern Territory Government, the AFL and Qantas to become partners. “Then come back to me and I’ll put my name in.”

Frawley, who had previously kicked off a number of Victorian teams, had seen what can go wrong starting up a club. “Relying on the gate with a new team is the quickest way to go broke,” he says. With a budget of $1.6 million, he went to the Territory Government. The Chief Minister Clare Martin and deputy, at the time, Paul Henderson backed the business plan immediately, pledging $1 million over fi ve years.

Frawley then went to the Federal Government, coincidentally during the last election. Minister Mal Brough was in Darwin, and agreed to the plan at once. But a change of government was mooted and, through NT Federal representatives, Labor candidate Kevin Rudd was approached. He fl ew to Darwin to discuss backing the concept. Frawley recalls, “I told him it would cost him a half million dollars a year for fi ve years, and he said that wouldn’t be a problem—but to make sure the girls are doing something as well. And that’s why we’re giving $100,000 to netball for their NT Storm team. Rudd said we’ll announce it in 20 minutes. And he did.”

based companies were considered. But the fi rst to respond to the concept was Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) and its parent group, Rio Tinto. The company, with its Ranger Mine base in rural Jabiru, was keen to get involved with a footy team propelled by such a positive, community-oriented business case. “They can put their hand up and say how they’re making a difference because they’ve got 50 players, 85 per cent who are Indigenous, and they’re nearly all working or studying,” says Totham, who joined the Thunder last year after acting as general manager of the Sturt footy club in the SAFL. “Part of their agreement with us is offering fi ve traineeships with ERA. So they’re putting their money where their mouth is, and supporting the concept strongly.”

It is a sponsorship with which ERA is proud to be associated. “If it was purely about having our name on a sporting club, I don’t think we would have gone for it,” says ERA chief executive Rob Atkinson. “It was the complete package of enhancing the profi le of the game in the Territory, the social aspects about providing for

Territory kids, and the team becoming real role models. As one of the largest businesses in the Territory it’s our responsibility to support these qualities.”

Today the Territory Thunder has already shown itself to be competitive on the fi eld in Queensland’s QAFL and is increasingly achieving its concept goals off the fi eld. Because of their strong corporate and government sponsorship, the club is building an enormous early fan and membership base, offering match tickets for just $5 each and memberships for as low as $35. It is the players’ career paths, however, that elicit the greatest pride from the organisers. “We could reach 100 per cent employment,” says Frawley. “That’s unheard of. We had two Indigenous kids who just went out and got their own jobs because they were worried about getting kicked off the squad. How good is that?”

p18 p19

“We could reach 100 per cent employment. That’s

unheard of. We had two Indigenous kids who just went

out and got their own jobs because they were worried

about getting kicked off the squad. How good is that?”

Far left > Thunder general manager Stuart Totham.Left > Coach Michael ('Magic') McLean addresses the Thunder at halftime.This image > Roy Kantilla sends the ball forward. Top right > Prime Minister Kevin Rudd becomes the offi cial patron of the Territory Thunder.Right > Kenny Morton, an Alice Springs-based Thunder player from Ti Tree.

p20 p21

It was welcome news for Territory exporters and importers alike: the Mariana Express Line has begun a scheduled fortnightly shipping run from Shanghai to Darwin, on to Townsville, to Kaohsiung (Taiwan) and return. The Singapore-headquartered shipping

company is experiencing high growth on its current Townsville stop, and has added a second ship and

a Darwin stop to increase its capacity in and out of Australia. It was a decision based on extensive market

research that showed Darwin was a growing market based on mining supply and construction.

Sliding into Darwin’s East Arm Wharf in June and July are Mariana’s Ice Moon and the Mell Seletar, sister ships with a carrying capacity of nearly 700 containers each. The ships will leave Shanghai, a shipping centre where containers from across north Asia are funnelled. The service expansion with the additional ports of call and increased frequency provides further opportunities for importers and exporters. Transhipments to north and south-east Asia and Japan/Korea will be offered via both Kaohsiung and Shanghai linking in with the Mariana network in Asia.

The company promises a quick nine day sail from Shanghai to Darwin, translating into a fortnightly service, with deliveries guaranteed in 14 days. They accept both FCL (full container load) and LCL (less container load) cargoes from numerous points in Asia. “We have a fi xed sailing schedule which is our strength in the market,”

explains Jenny Chen, Mariana's owners' representative in Australia. “We have ‘schedule integrity’. If we say ‘Friday in and Saturday out—we will deliver. That makes it easy for importers to organise their stock and for exporters to notify their customers of a delivery date.”

The Mariana Express Line is a niche shipper, frequenting smaller ports that have been previously under-serviced. The line kicked off in 1997 when the owners recognised a market in Saipan where the economy was fl ourishing with the shipment of imported raw materials and goods from Asia, Australia and New Zealand to Micronesia. With shipping lines limited in number and capacity, the situation sparked high costs to local businesses.

Then the Mariana Express answered the needs of Saipan-based entrepreneurs for weekly reliable shipping services. The service offered businesses more choices of products to import.

Furthermore, it helped small retailers to decrease their amount of inventory due to the more frequent schedule provided by the service. As a result, the whole community gained advantage in reduced ocean tariff by as much as 50 per cent due to the increased volume of competitively priced products that were shipped to Saipan.

Today the niche markets visited by Mariana Express Lines’ eight vessels are Pacifi c ports like Koror in Palau, Yap, Saipan and Guam, plus major Asian ports like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Okinawa in Japan, and Davao and Cebu in the Philippines. “Our idea is that once demand is up, we will change our vessel to a larger size,” says Chen. “For example in Guam and Saipan we are using 1100 containers in a vessel and we’re going in every week. That’s how busy we’ve become.”

The company is excited about its Darwin service and plans to open an offi ce in the city.

Jenny Chen is planning to relocate to Darwin from Sydney, demonstrating her company’s commitment to their northern expansion. “I found that when I went to Darwin, I loved the city and the people,” recalls Chen. “For us to go to a new place with lots of support from the government and the Chief Minister and the Darwin Port Corporation, I need to return my loyalty to the city. I want to move up there and work together to grow the port.”

The Mariana Express Line wants to see Darwin become an important regional shipping hub that will act as a gateway between Asia and Australia. “Any port we plan, we come in for a long stay. We don’t just come and go,” says Chen. “That’s why we have to plan ahead with a lot of strategy. If we work well with Darwin and Townsville we’ll upgrade our vessels again and our aim is to go in weekly, not fortnightly.”

Right > An artist's conception of the Mariana Express Line beginning its Shanghai

to Darwin to Townsville service.Below > The Ice Moon, one of the initial

vessels scheduled to service Darwin.

p22 p23

While Australian Aboriginal art, much of which is created in the Northern Territory, has taken many international markets by storm, the lucrative American art market remains elusive. Galleries in Europe, in particular, have taken strongly to Indigenous contemporary art, but the American market is limited to a relative few collectors. But now, the Australian leader in the production and export of Indigenous fi ne art is about to make an assault on that market with two major exhibitions opening in New York City.

The Papunya Tula artists, based in Alice Springs, will open a major show in Greenwich Village to coincide with an exhibition that is already touring the country. The exhibition entitled, Icons of the Desert—Early Paintings from Papunya opened in January of this year at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and is currently showing at the University of California in Los Angeles. The exhibition features dozens of works drawn from the collection of John and Barbara Wilkerson, most dating back to 1971 and 1972, the earliest years of painting at Papunya.

The Icons show will return to the east coast and the Grey Art Gallery at New York University from 1 September, where Papunya Tula’s exhibition will open a few days later. The two exhibitions should produce maximum impact. “It’s the fi rst time we’ve gone in on this level,” explains Papunya Tula manager Paul Sweeney. “This is a concerted project that we’re going to go quite hard at. We are putting a catalogue together, we’re taking some artists, and will hopefully piggyback on some big publicity.”

However, before the artists and administrators of Papunya Tula converge on the ‘Apple,’ the Icons show is already attracting major attention. Cornell University Press published an illustrated catalogue edited by curator Roger Benjamin to accompany the exhibition, and critics of the exhibition were unanimous in their praise. Nicolas Rothwell of the Australian newspaper wrote: “This catalogue and the exhibit it accompanies constitute a hinge event in the brief, vivid history of the desert art movement and its journey from the reddish plains of Papunya into the world. Indeed, nothing will be quite the same again in our understanding of this art ... It has all the paradigm-changing potential, if on a smaller stage, of the celebrated 1939 New York retrospective of Picasso’s early work.”

The company derives its name from the settlement of Papunya, 240km east of Alice Springs, established as an administrative centre by the Australian Government for the Aboriginal people who had moved in from the desert. It was there that a school teacher, Geoffrey Bardon,

encouraged some of the men to paint a blank school wall. The murals sparked off tremendous interest in the community and soon many men started painting. In 1972 the artists successfully established Papunya Tula Artists, their own company. Today it has 49 shareholders and now represents around 120 artists.

but it’s doubtful there’ll ever be another event to coincide with it. We’ll give it a shake and put a lot into the works we select. We don’t want to bring them back unsold.”

The New York show, however, is just one of the projects Papunya Tula is producing

The Icons exhibition is a collection of the desert artist’s earliest works. Their painting style derives directly from the artists’ knowledge of traditional body and sand painting associated with ceremony. A traditional 3m square ‘ground work’ was created at the Cornell University opening by artists Bobby West Tjupurrula, Ray James Tjangala, and Joseph Jarra Tjapaltjarri, using sand and plant fi bres.

A few days after Icons returns to New York, the new Papunya Tula show, featuring all new works, will open at the Washington Square East Gallery in Greenwich Village. A catalogue with works and background material is currently in production, interpretation will show New Yorkers where and how the art is created, and 40 spectacular pictures will go on sale. “We’re going to aim stratospheric with this one because you might not get another crack at it,” says Sweeney. “We could do another show there in the future,

this year. A major exhibition of senior Pintupi Artists from Kintore and Kiwirrkura has recently opened in Gallery Gabrielle Pizziin Melbourne, and another is planned for later in the year. Chris Hodges’ Utopia Gallery in Sydney will show a solo exhibition of paintings by Papunya Tula artist Ningura Napurrula, and other exhibitions are scheduled for Adelaide and Darwin.

But opening the American market remains a priority with Papunya Tula, their members leading the Aboriginal art charge into the fi ne art capital of the world. “It’s a risk in some sense, considering the timing,” states Sweeney, referring to the international economic climate. “But it’s about the future. We want to generate an interest there and sustain that by following up with additional shows later on. There’s a massive market there that hasn’t really switched on yet, but when you get a chance like this, you’ve got to give it a go.”

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Left > The Icons Exibition catalogue.Image above > Ray James Tjangala works on the ground design. Far left > Ray James Tjangala and Bobby West Tjupurrula take a buggy ride around New York's Central Park.Centre > Fred Myers and Joseph Jarra Tjapaltjarri with the exhition's ground design.

p24 p25

The search for new markets for Indigenous art and crafts has now

turned to China and India, the world’s most

populous and potentially lucrative markets. A trade

delegation made up of industry representatives

was organised by the Northern Territory

Government to visit Shanghai to explore

the opportunities for their artworks at the

upcoming World Expo 2010 being held there.

The Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu

tested the Indian market with an exhibition of their

works at the Open Palm Court Gallery in

New Delhi. Representatives for both groups used

the government’s Trade Support Scheme to aid in

fi nancing their efforts.

China has long been considered as a global manufacturing powerhouse, but it is also now one of the leading international commercial centres for fi ne art. According to the Art Price Report website, China has overtaken France for international art sales into third place behind the United States and the United Kingdom. “There are a growing number of Chinese art collectors who are expressing interest in art works from overseas,” observes Shanghai gallery owner Sun Yongkang. “China is becoming more appreciative of new forms of art.”

That was music to the ears of the Territory delegation made up of Warlukurlangu Artists, Buku-Larrnggay Mulka art centre from Yirrkala, Mbantua Gallery from Alice Springs and Desart, the association of Central Australian arts and crafts centres. Members of the delegation met with a range of galleries and art institutions with the intention of presenting exhibitions that will coincide with Shanghai’s World Expo 2010. Millions of people are expected to attend the Expo where the Australian Pavilion will highlight Indigenous art.

The feedback from these galleries was positive, with several future exhibitions are being considered, and the visit has confi rming that China is a potential market for NT Indigenous art and crafts. The delegates were delighted to be able to talk to gallery decision makers. “We have tried to do business in Shanghai before, but could never get to the ‘right people,” said Mbantua’s Tim Jennings. “The NT Government made sure we got to talk to the ‘right people’.”

Chinese galleries have recognised the contemporary nature of Indigenous art and believe that the pure uninfl uenced nature and environmental base of the artwork is something that will interest Chinese art lovers and collectors. The vibrant colours will also attract buyer attention.

One gallery has offered to profi le selected Indigenous artists and works in its 300-page quarterly art marketing magazine. The offer has been made for 40 to 50 pages of information and illustration, and will be distributed to 2000 high profi le Chinese art

collectors. The section is their way of testing the market’s interest in the artwork and the prices. Should the level of interest be high enough, the gallery will move to develop future exhibitions.

The Warlukurlangu Artists’ foray into India achieved a similar level of high interest. The group are from Yuendumu in Central Australia, 300km north-west of Alice Springs. Making the trip were the art centre’s art coordinator, Cecilia Alfonso, and her Indian-Australian friend Durga Vishnawanthan, along with husband-and-wife artists Otto Simms

and Ormay Gallagher. They opened their show at Delhi’s Open Palm Court Gallery to strong public attendance and media attention.

Hundreds passed through the gallery at the opening and in the days following. Austrade had publicised the event thoroughly. “People responded very positively,” recalls Alfonso. “The Indian Habitat Centre was a great venue attracting popular attendance, but, having said that, it’s really hard to crack a new market. You must fi nd a gallery that will promote your work.”

In the end they sold 50 paintings and introduced the Indian public to what Alfonso calls ‘a new aesthetic.’ Their mid-range pricing played out well during an economic downturn. They found that their most expensive works did not sell but most other works were seen as being good value. “People liked the work and found it affordable,” says Alfonso. “But it was not a money-making exercise for us. It was exploratory. We had a ball—which is the main thing!”

“People responded very positively.

The Indian Habitat Centre was a great

venue attracting popular attendance, but,

having said that, it’s really hard to crack a

new market. You must fi nd a gallery that

will promote your work.”

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Pastoralists say you can tell a lot about a station

manager by how a property is presented.

Driving through the rolling downs of

Mistake Creek station, 1000km south-west

of Darwin, that adage comes to mind. You are

immediately aware of the tight, tidy fencing,

the steel gates that look strong enough to corral elephants, and the well-

manicured homestead that looks like a southern

racehorse stud.

p26 p27

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each year. The land’s come back a lot since we got rid of them donkeys.”

Employment of young Indigenous men to work on the property was one of the reasons the traditional owners successfully lobbied for the sale of Mistake Creek. While no local men have expressed interest in jobs this year, apart from the head stockman all those working as ringers this year are Indigenous, some from the west and one from Tennant Creek. New candidates are soon to arrive via the Indigenous Pastoral Program. “They’re given fi rst shot at any jobs going on the place. That’s our charter,” says Craig. “And we’ll train ’em up and help ’em develop. But if they don’t cut it— they’re out, just like anyone else. I got a business to run.

The people responsible for the professional look of Mistake Creek are station manager Steve Craig, 49, an Eastern Arrente Aboriginal man from Alice Springs, and wife Jo-Anne from Tennant Creek. Together, they have overseen changes that have taken the property from being a badly overgrazed rangeland, to one of the fi nest commercial properties in the Territory. It is a property that’s seen as a model for other Aboriginal-owned cattle stations in northern Australia.

The reasons for the property’s success are twofold: the right person is at the controls and the traditional owners are totally supportive of his efforts, demanding precious little for themselves. Living nearby in an excised homeland, the 50 or so traditional owners of the property take only a nominal

lease payment per year that goes into a trust for a common purpose. “All the money this place makes goes back into it,” says Craig “There’s nothing paid out and nobody gets any royalties. It was the TOs’ decision that everything that is made goes back into the property.”

Craig turns off between 7000 and 8000 head of Brahman cattle a year to the live cattle trade, with the lion’s share of the profi ts returned to the station for equipment and maintenance. “Steve’s got a real good brain,” smiles Jack Cook, on the Mistake Creek board of directors and the traditional owner most responsible for the return of the property to the Malngin Aborigines. “We’re very proud and real pleased with this station. It’s the best Aboriginal cattle station going.”

The station was purchased by the Aborigines with the help of the Central Land Council (CLC) in 1991 for $4.2 million. It was in poor condition, overgrazed by cattle and overrun by thousands of feral animals. Steve and Jo-Anne were hired in 1994. Craig found the previous manager had been placed there without consultation with the directors, with very little interaction between the manager and the TOs. So he instituted regular monthly meetings to discuss all the fi nancials, as well as their responsibilities as decision makers.

Craig had been in and out of the pastoral industry all his life. “My grandfather was an old half-caste fella and my grandmother was a full blood,” he recalls. “And my grandfather used to say to me,

‘the whiteman won’t eat you’. Like, ‘get in and mix with them’. That’s one thing that’s stuck with me.” He dropped out of school aged 13 and went into the cattle industry as a ringer, then a head stockman.

He worked for the surveyors of the Darwin to Alice Railway line, pegging the corridor, and spent fi ve years behind the wheel of a Readymix truck. Craig was working for a buffalo domestication project in Eva Valley when he told the CLC’s Tracker Tilmouth of his interest in running an Aboriginal cattle station. Three years later the Mistake Creek job came along.

When he arrived there were just 8000 head of cattle scattered across the place.

Now there are 23,000, with that number set to expand

into an undeveloped area of the station. One of the reasons for that growth in cattle numbers and quality (he held the overall exhibitor trophy for the cattle section of the Kununurra Show for four years running) is Craig’s gradual eradication of feral animals that competed with cattle for feed.

First he had to convince the traditional owners, who were against the shooting of donkeys and wild horses, that eradication was required to get the station on its feet. It took three years of explanation and negotiation. “When we fi rst come there was about 54,000 donkeys here,” Craig explains. “We went hard for four years and shot 34,000. We still shoot a couple thousand

p28 p29

“We’re very proud and real pleased with this station.

It’s the best Aboriginal cattle station going.”

Mistake Creek scenes (from left) > The horse herd gathers at sunset; Craig surveys the muster; the creek at sunrise; wild camels pose feral animal worries; a horse problem for the head stockman;

the Indigenous ringers at day's end.

p30

theGRANDFATHER

OFallCAMEL RACES

They’re on their mark. At Alice Springs Camel Cup the handlers line up the camels and riders for the star. The camels are then brought to their knees and, when all are ready, the starting gun is fi red. Then the handlers bolt to get behind the camels so they’re not trampled over—and from there expect the unexpected. “In some years a camel will jump up at the start line and buck-jumps until he loses the rider,” says cameleer Neil Waters of Camels Australia who provides animals to the race from his Stuart’s Well camel farm. “Then he might go around the track on his own. You can never tell what a camel’s thinking.”

p31

cover story:

This image > Last year's Camel Cup winner Graeme Marshall crosses the fi nish line.

Time and place I leave to him. That is, if he is not chicken as he is getting that fat I doubt if he can sit on one; a good suggested time for the grudge race would be the Centenary Celebrations… Yours Sincerely Lion Noel.”

It was on for young and old. The two-camel match race that was run in the parched Todd River bed was attended by half the population of Alice Springs.

“We run in an oval and other races run in a straight line,” states Waters. “There’s nothing interesting about a straight line race but in an oval race the camels might get half way around and decide to turn around and go back the other way.”

It is an event that’s been embraced by sponsors. Alice Springs’ Imparja Television has just re-signed another three year deal, using the event as a great marketing tool and sponsoring a corporate marquee at the event on the day, used as a networking opportunity for its key clients. Organisers have also signed a fresh three year deal with Lion Nathan Brewing and its brand of XXXX Gold.

But in the end, the Camel Cup is a day of light entertainment where all proceeds are won by Alice’s not-for-profi t organisations. Following each Cup run, expressions of interest are solicited from local organisations, and profi ts are distributed to those deemed deserving, funding everyone from the St John Ambulance Cadets, to the Central Australian Folk Society, to the Alice Springs Netball Association.

It’s a family day where the kids ride in mock camel races and the adults get loose enough to climb into the saddle atop a giant animal. Groups show up in costume with none more outrageous than the Yanks from Alice Springs’ Pine Gap defence facility. “We use them for ‘cannon fodder’ and it gives the crowd something to laugh at with their big backsides bouncing up and down in the saddle for 400m around the track,” says Waters. “The Yanks actually help us out a lot. People like that are just good fun.”

It is an event that refuses to take itself seriously. Cameleers do not train their charges to become Cup champions, but they make sure the animals are trained for riders. There is no prize money or betting at the track. Or is there? “When I’m at the Camel Cup my focus is on the track and getting’ everyone around it without bitin’ the dirt,” says Waters. “But I can’t see what goes on in the crowd. Remember, this is Alice Springs, so I wouldn’t mind bettin’ there wasn’t somebody there with a little side book.”

Unpredictability is what makes Alice Springs’ Camel Cup the most bizarre (and entertaining) race on anyone’s Territory sporting calendar. On 12July the 39th annual Lions Club Camel Cup kicks off at Blatherskite Park, the country’s only purpose-built camel racetrack. If it is anything like last year, when 5300 people (the largest crowd in 19 years) showed up, the Lions are in for record takings, all earmarked for Alice Springs charities. “This is the original camel race in Australia, where camel racing actually started,” says Dale McIver of Action Enterprises, contracted to promote the event. “It’s the grandfather of camel races.”

But the charities are not the only benefi ciaries of the Camel Cup. Alice’s hoteliers and tourism associated industries enjoy the event’s weekend windfall, with 70 per cent of those through the gate being tourists. “It’s primarily a tourism-based event, but we’re trying to encourage the locals back as well. A lot of the tourists will time their travel to be there for the event. Generally, after talking to travel agents, on the days either side of the Camel Cup, Ayers Rock is a lot quieter than normal,” observes McIver.

McIver promotes the Cup to two target markets—grey nomads and backpackers. She frequents the eastern states backpacker expos and caravan and camping shows and places ads in the publications they read.

The origin of the Cup is the stuff of legends. In 1970 a letter appeared in a local paper, written by cameleer extraordinaire Noel Fullerton. The great bearded one wrote, “I have had a feud with Lion Keith Mooney-Smith for some time and I feel it is time we settled it. So I challenge him to a duel, the weapons being camels.

Fullerton lost, but the big crowd watching from the banks of the river set the Lions Clubs to pondering the fact that if two camels can draw that sort of assembly, how many could a proper camel racing event attract?

The rest is history. The fi rst venue was Traeger Park, but low fences and a grass track were thought to be too dangerous, so in 1975 the event moved to Arunga Park Speedway. Since 1979 the Camel Cup has been held on its own arena at Blatherskite Park, a section of the Central Australian Show Society grounds, with Neil Waters’ camels recently dominating proceedings.

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by half the population of Alice Springked the event Generally after talking to Noel Fullerton. The great bearded one by half the population of Alice Springked

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”

the event. Generally, after talking to travel agents, on the days either side of the Camel Cup, Ayers Rock is a lot quieter than normal,” observes McIver.

Noel Fullerton. The great bearded one wrote, “I have had a feud with Lion Keith Mooney-Smith for some time and I feel it is time we settled it. So I challenge him to a duel, the weapons being camels.

“This is the

original camel

race in Australia,

where camel racing

actually started.”

p32 p33

Far top left > Race founding father Noel Fullerton.Left > Neil Waters at his Camel Farm at Stuart's Well. Far bottom left > The purpose-built Blatherskite Park track.Bottom left > In the past few years Neil's camels have dominated the race.Below > Kids in a broomstick camel race.

For Aboriginal work team manager Daniel Jones the

day could have started better. First the tractor

ground to a halt with a fl at tyre. Then the grader

broke down, forcing someone to drive to

Kununurra, 180km away, for a $10 spare part.

White ants got inside the camp fridge and ate

out the wiring. Then one of the work crew lost

the gate key, stranding everyone outside.

Daniel Jones—welcome to the world of

business ownership.

Jones and 11 other Indigenous young men from the Timber Creek area, 700km from Darwin, are learning the hard way about operating a business for themselves. But judging by their track record, they’ll overcome these annoying setbacks just as they have in the past.

The group formed the Bradshaw and Timber Creek Contracting and Resource Company to take advantage of service opportunities on offer in the sprawling Bradshaw Field Training Area near Timber Creek. Already into their second year of work, the men have gone from working for the dole on CDEP to creating profi ts from their business enterprise and initiating real jobs in a remote area. “When we started, we hired a tractor and we hired a camp demountable, but now we own it all,” says Jones proudly. “We saved half our wages and put it back into the company.”

The business started as a proactive effort by Defence, which operates Bradshaw from a long term Indigenous Land Use Agreement between the region’s traditional owners and the Australian Government Department of Defence. Preferential tendering was a part of that partnership. The young men enlisted the help of the Northern Land Council’s Bradshaw liaison offi cer Greg Kimpton. With the men having no experience in business and poor educational skills, it was Kimpton who helped them write their business plan and aided in the initial tendering process. “I told them that they have to run it, not me,” recalls Kimpton. “If the company was set up, they would run the works. They had to have the will to come to work.”

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They successfully bid on a contract to grade a 100km stretch of gravel road inside the training area and, having completed that, the crew was asked to tender on the removal of 340km of redundant wire fencing in advance of the upcoming Defence exercise, Talisman Sabre – 2009. “Fence lines and heavy weapons don’t mix well,” explains Caspar McDermott of the Australian Defence Organisation, who manages Bradshaw for the Australian Defence Force. “What they achieved is removing a redundant fence line and scrapping it in a very thorough manner, in a specifi c time to a specifi c standard. They’ve done an outstanding job.”

Camping out in a bush camp for weeks at a time, away from family and friends, is a diffi cult task, but the men from Bradshaw completed their fi rst contracts, putting half their wages back into the business. With it they bought two tractors, plus fridges and freezers for their demountable camp, and other equipment. “These guys have to show Defence they are reliable and worthy of getting contracts on a commercial basis,” states Kimpton. “If they build their own reputation there’ll be ongoing works every year. The better skilled they get, the more organised they get, the better equipped they get, the more opportunities will come their way.”

But pulling up fence lines on foot under the tropical sun proved to be demanding work. The men knew if they could get work vehicles they could pull up much more barbed wire in a day and it would take less out of them, physically.

So they applied for a grant from the NT Government’s Indigenous Business Development Program, which provides assistance and funding to Indigenous people looking to establish new businesses or develop existing business opportunities. They were successful and awarded a $33,000 grantfor the purchase of four quadbikes. “The logistics of getting up and down the fence line on quad bikes makes their job more time effi cient and effective,” says the Department of Regional Development, Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources’ Kym Nolan.

But working for Defence on Bradshaw is seasonal work. Unable to carry out the work during the wet season, the crew’s challenge is to generate work outside Defence to take them through the year. That looks to be accomplished by selling gravel off Aboriginal freehold land to Katherine based contractors for government departments. A potentially lucrative business awaits by selling washed sand and other gravel products, using the vehicles they bought for the Defence work. It is a prospect Daniel Jones relishes. “Getting up every day for work is easy if you got a big heart,” he says. “You want the pay, you got to work. When we fi nish this Bradshaw job we’ll look for other jobs in the region.”

Far left > The members of the Bradshaw and Timber Creek Contracting and Resource Company.Top left > NLC Bradshaw liaison offi cer Greg Kimpton.Bottom left > The crew at work dismantling redundant fencing.Below > The company grader at work.

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It looks like a giant green and yellow steel Meccano set rising out of Monadelphous’ Hudson Creek yard. The multi-storey sections of fabricated steel structures, plus those incorporating complex-looking steel pressure vessels, are being loaded on massive 500 tonne capacity Sea Tow barges to ferry them down to Wadeye where they are joined together to become Eni’s shore-based pressurised gas plant.

MONADELPHOUS

Left > Shaun Reid at the Monadelphous construction yard.Images below > Eni gas plant pipe racks under construction.

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A cast of nearly 180 skilled Monadelphous employees are currently working at the plant site, 200km south of Darwin, assembling the pre-fabricated sections of the new Eni facility. It is here that the Blacktip natural gas will be pressurised and sent through the new overland pipeline to Darwin’s Channel Island power plant.

Monadelphous’ Darwin-based Engineering Construction section is producing the kind of quality steel fabrication work that was beyond the Territory capital’s capacity a decade ago. “The clients are pretty impressed,” observes construction manager Shaun Reid.

The important Eni project, which will supply the Territory with its power for the next 25 years, is the latest contract to go to Monadelphous. The company also provides ongoing support services to ConocoPhillips’ Darwin LNG facility and project work for

Monadelphous’ Territory manager, “and ‘Monos’ maintain it and provide all sorts of people to keep the place running, plus any de-bottlenecking projects.”

In Darwin, the Maintenance and Industrial division employs about 200 workers outside the 180 employed by the Engineering and Construction division. Monadelphous was awarded the ConocoPhillips contract three years ago and re-signed in October 2008 for another three-year option. The four-week October 2006 shutdown required six months of planning; the scope included planning and execution of piping modifi cations, vessel entry and inspection, compressor inspection and service, procurement and management of major subcontractors.

The company also operates a third division in Darwin called Skystar Airport Services, offering ground handling and logistic services in the Australian and New Zealand markets.

“The Territory and Darwin is considered to be a bit of a shining light in

terms of the broader future opportunities. Oil and gas is a growth sector

for us especially in Darwin with ConocoPhillips and Power and Water,

with great potential for oil and gas development in the future.”

the Power and Water Corporation. “The Territory and Darwin is considered to be a bit of a shining light in terms of the broader future opportunities,” says Monadelphous managing director Rob Velletri from Perth. “Oil and gas is a growth sector for us especially in Darwin with ConocoPhillips and Power and Water, with great potential for oil and gas development in the future.”

Handling the Darwin LNG contract is the company’s Maintenance and Industrial Services division. The multidisciplinary maintenance contract involves the management of all aspects of structural, mechanical, piping, electrical,instrumentation and civil works including the planning, management and execution of complex shutdowns.

A permanent crew of approximately 30 personnel is based on the LNG plant Wickham Point site. Monadelphous managed the plant’s fi rst shutdown in October 2006, a minor shutdown in April 2007 and major outage in October 2007. “ConocoPhillips stick to running their gas plant, because that’s what they do well,” explains Peter Eastick,

Monadelphous opened its Darwin doors in the early 70s, and has been operating for 15 years at its Hudson Creek site, one of the fi rst companies to recognise the area’s potential, even before the nearby port was built. The workshop is busy with highly skilled welders producing quality work in an industry that continues to endure a skill shortage. “There are still specialist welders being fl own in from around the country, but there are a lot of people ready to move here and stay with Monos,” says Eastick. “And we’re hoping that we can offer some incentives to the good ones like training, and they can step up another rung on the ladder.”

If Eastick sounds parochial towards Darwin it is no accident. He is Darwin born and bred, but has had a wealth of experience in major construction jobs in Belfast and also built two $250 million drill ships for Global Marine. He was construction and project manager on the Vopak Tanks. “I think over the last four or fi ve years Darwin has picked up the expertise to service any industry,” says Eastick. “We get a lot of people who have moved up here and like the lifestyle.

There’s a lot of offshore people fl ying in from Perth but more and more are getting based here.”

Monadelphous continues to win contracts nationally and locally. It recently won a $170 million contract for major works associated with Woodside Petroleum’s $12 billion Pluto liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia. Project works will begin immediately, with completion scheduled for the second quarter of calendar 2010. In Darwin, the company is watching closely as the INPEX gas project develops. “There’s real opportunities for us there,” says Reid. “And you can bet we’ll be doing our best to show INPEX we are capable of handling their most complex contracts.”

Above > Welders working in the Maintenance and Industrial Services division.Below > Peter Eastick, Monadelphous' Territory manager.

Left > Pipe racks fabricated.

Dramatic change has never been a stranger to the Fingers family. In the last year alone the Darwin metal fabricators have changed their name from Fingers Aluminium to Fingers Specialised Metal Fabrication, and moved from their Winnellie workshop to a spacious new multi-million dollar ‘shed’ in the East Arm industrial estate.

They changed their name because their team produces quality work on a wide variety of space age metals like mild steel, copper-nickel and stainless steel—not just aluminium. And they moved into new premises because, “if we wanted to get oil and gas work we needed space, and lots of it,” says Mark ‘Fingers’ Taylor, the company’s managing director. “You don’t get a look-in at the big jobs unless you have the facility.”

That investment is already paying off, with the home-grown company securing fabrication work from a range of offshore companies, just a few months since moving in. Their team of 21 tradespeople is producing work for ConocoPhillips’ Bayu Undan facility in the Timor Sea, PTTEP’s offshore Challis Venture facility (formerly operated by Coogee Resources), and Eni’s Blacktip operation in the Bonaparte Gulf. “Before the shed was opened we fl ew to Perth and visited the companies we wanted to deal with. And we got a good response. We kept on emailing and talking to them on the phone and work came out of that,” adds Mark.

But attracting high quality welding and fabrication work did not simply happen by moving into a larger workshop. Fingers’ team had to also upgrade their skills to suit the stringent demands of their new clients, and are currently working towards the ISO 3834 welding qualifi cation, a quality assurance program that required they employ a full-time quality assurance manager. “Nobody asked us to upgrade, but we knew we had to in order to get the work,”

explains Marian Taylor, the company’s general manager. “They have very stringent controls on the purchase of material and goods coming in. We’ve got to be able to trace exactly where we bought it from, what invoice it went to, which welder welded it, and who passed the weld—it’s all got to be documented.”

It’s that attention to detail and delivery—being on time and on budget—that has seen the Taylors’ company grow from a tiny family business to company employing 30, producing specialised metal fabrication for international contractors. Kiwis Mark and Marian Taylor visited Darwin in the 80s before travelling to Perth where boilermaker Mark (nicknamed ‘Fingers’ due to the industrial accident that took four from his right hand) worked in the shipbuilding industry. They returned to Darwin with $250 in their collective pockets in1989, aiming to take advantage of the lifestyle on offer.

After a stint with Frances Bay Slipway (now Paspaley Engineering) the couple went into business for themselves, buying the existing Summers Aluminium. After three years they changed their name to Fingers Aluminium and after fi ve years moved to the larger Hickman Street workshop. “When we moved into that new shed we really started to grow,” recalls Marian. “Within fi ve years of being in that workshop we had to extend it.”

Sparking that growth was Defence work. The Navy’s Fremantle Class patrol boats were superseded by the sleek new Armidale Class vessels and Fingers was waiting on the dock for them to arrive. “I spent $30,000 training

my men up before the Armidales arrived,” says Mark, “and we were the only company with DNV qualifi cations to actually weld on them when they arrived here. Now it’s fi ve years we’ve been working on them.”

Over the past decade their client list expanded to include a range of Top End endeavours from Darwin International Airport to repairs and maintenance for Paspaley Pearls, as well as work on fi shing boats and luxury yachts. They built Bamarru Plains’ pontoon and gangway at Sampan Creek and Kakadu National Park’s Home Billabong platform and gangway. “We don’t like to keep all our eggs in one basket,” states Marian Taylor. “If you only focus on one industry, if something happens you can get badly burnt. We have the scope that we’re able to spread ourselves around so if one side of the industry goes quiet for awhile, then we can concentrate on others.”

Gas and oil is their current area of concentration and INPEX is a project of focus. Asked to submit a questionnaire to the Japanese energy corporation listing their capabilities, Fingers Specialised Metal Fabrication plans to be tendering for work on the prospective $20 billion LNG project. The Taylors believe the main modules that will make up the gas plant will be built overseas and Darwin companies could be called upon to put the whole project together. However, the work for businesses like Fingers will be on going. “INPEX will mean a lot of work for a long time and secure work in Darwin,” says Mark. “It’ll make us a great oil and gas hub which will attract more industries, so we’re no longer just a government town.It’ll mean jobs for our kids.”

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“Nobody asked us to upgrade, but we knew we

had to in order to get the work.”

Above > Welding carried out on an offshore platform in the Fingers workshop.Below > Mark Taylor with a helicopter training module for Accrete.Right > Mark and Marian Taylor.

It seems half of Darwin crowds together

every Thursday at the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, the human fl ood the result of a

‘must experience’ event on any visitor’s schedule.

Most tourists have never seen anything like it, especially the

bizarre array of dishes on offer. There’s

everything from home-cooked Greek food to South American.

There’s gourmet coffee stalls and Sri Lankan

curries and homemade beef jerky. But many

of the most exotic looking dishes are

just everyday fare to resident Darwinites.

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Left > A laksa from Mark and Yati's Parap Markets stall.Below > Mexican at Mindil.Bottom right > Ratchanee Warawitya and her stuffed chicken wings.

In fact, many of these strange delicacies are not only available at Mindil Beach but they are also found at a host of different stalls at Friday’s Palmerston Markets, Saturday’s busy Parap Markets, and Sunday’s Nightcliff and Rapid Creek events. They are markets that have inspired an epicurean sensation that sets the Darwin menu apart from any other ... anywhere.

Where else would you fi nd people lined up three deep to buy bagsful of stuffed chicken wings. Everyone cooks them—the Chinese, the Malays, the Filipinos—but Ratchanee Warawitya’s are gourmet Darwin tucker. At Mindil’s SalaThai stand she serves up a host of splendid Thai dishes, but none more popular than her stuffed chicken wings.

She strategically washes the wing with salt and sesame oil before taking the bone from the wing. She then tucks in a stuffi ng made of vermicelli noodle, onion, beef mince, egg and oyster sauce, the wing swelling in size. Then

the wings are deep fried in the wok. Add a splash of homemade chilli sauce and the great brown bulging wing is a Darwin delight.

The Mindil Beach Sunset Market is a non-profi t market started in 1987 by six locals looking to bring a taste of Asia’s night markets to multicultural Australia. They kicked off with 20 food stalls and 20 art and craft stalls, and today it boasts of having 60 food stalls that feature cuisine from Turkey to North Africa to India and all over south-east Asia. The market has been recognised by the National Trust as an Icon of National Signifi cance.

The Parap Market is a different world from Mindil. It’s a low-key meeting place for Darwinites to gather for a spicy Saturday morning breakfast. There are those stalwarts who arrive just after dawn to secure a table, and occupy it for the morning. And one of the taste delights that attracts hungry marketeers to Parap is a laksa soup from Mark and Yati Dolan’s soup stall.

It’s a Malaysian-style laksa popularised by the previous owners of this stall, Jackie and Victor Foo. Darwinians have been queuing up for breakfast at Jackie’s stall for years so, when they bought the stall, the Dolans were

wise enough not to alter the taste-winning recipe.

While dozens of market stalls serve their version of laksa, Jackie’s original recipe is pure dinkum Malay: a curry soup with both rice and egg noodles, a few slabs of tofu, bean sprouts, fresh chilli and coriander, crushed nuts, and topped by your choice of either chicken, or pork, or seafood, or all of the above. “The recipe is Malaysian, where laksas come from,” says Mark Dolan. ”Others make theirs from all different styles, but the original is still the best.”

Another dish that was born in the markets and has become a Darwin mainstay is the paw paw salad. Originally a Thai recipe, plastic take-away dishes of the salad that features shaved green papaya as its base are smashed together at every local market. The operative question is, ‘how many chillis?’

But, like Jackie's laksa recipe, the original is still the best. Samchoey Bryant and her girlfriend from Thailand have been making paw paw salads for 19 years at the Rapid Creek markets. From dawn to closing time in the early afternoon Samchoey does not stop mixing this dynamic Darwin delicacy.

While most people have enjoyed slices of ripe red or orange paw paw for breakfast, fewer have partaken of it while it’s still green and fi rm. That’s when it’s right for paw paw salad. The fl esh is grated and added to a mixture of chilli (with the degree of heat dependant on how many sliced ‘bird’s eyes’ you want in it) brown sugar and garlic, plus a splash of fi sh sauce and lime juice. Then the grated paw paw is added as well as some sliced tomato and peanuts and mixed thoroughly.

But perhaps the best known market chef was Indonesian-Australian Bobby Wibisono in his colourful barbecued satay stall, which featured at most markets over the years. While some stallholders sell their own version of satay, with skewered chicken or prawns fried in a wok, Bobby always prepared his beef or chicken versions over the open coals—Jakarta style. It is a tradition that’s been taken over by his niece Patimah and her husband Doug Core, making that fi ne satay and spicy peanut sauce available to the next generation of Darwin marketeers.

Add a splash of homemade chillisauce and the great brown bulging wing is a Darwin delight.

have been queuing up for breakfast at Jackie’s stall for years so, when they bought the stall, the Dolans were

wise enough not to alter the taste-winning recipe.

p45p44

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Bruce Breaden was born on the country whitefellas call Tempe Downs station

near Kings Canyon in Central Australia. As a young Indigenous kid

growing up he worked as a ringer on the station and, 24 years ago, after

a long fi ght, he was able to secure 55 hectares as a living area. He called it

Wanmara. Today it’s a tidy homeland for Breaden’s

extended family featuring sturdy homes in a desert setting. But the 81-year-old former Central Land Council director wasn’t satisfi ed. He wanted his family to make a living from the place as well.

“I want to leave something good for my kids and my grandkids

when I’m gone,” he says.

Breaden went to the Ngurratjuta Association in Alice Springs for help and, as a result, Wanmara is today one of four homelands involved with an agricultural project that is already developing real jobs and community income for Aboriginal Territorians. “Their aspiration is to live and work on their country, develop properties and try and earn some income from them,” explains Ngurratjuta’s Resource Centre manager Bob Jefferies. “All we did was provide them with the opportunity and built the fi rst one. Then we got the commitment from the community.”

Ngurratjuta started in 1985 as an investment corporation from royalties associated with the sale of natural gas from the Mereenie gas fi eld in Palm Valley. The royalties are designed for the Indigenous people affected by the development, with part delivered in individual royalties and half invested by the association in businesses such as the Glen Helen Resort, a part ownership in the Kings Canyon Resort, as well as properties in Alice Springs. Ngurratjuta’s Resource Centre provides housing maintenance and project assistance to the outstations in the Tempe Downs and Kings Canyon areas.

Peter Abbott, part of Breaden’s extended family, took charge of transforming Wanmara’s spinifex covered, semi-arid acreage into a market garden that produces vegies for the Alice Springs market. Abbott initially trialled tomatoes, aided by Ian and Pat Hefferan, two professional market gardeners from Bourke contracted by Ngurratjuta. The couple advise all four of the homelands involved in the project.

Abbott is learning the agricultural trade in an area where fruit and veg proliferate in the desert sun.

Over at Arkanta, a property excised from Henbury station, 20 people are living on the isolated outstation. Ngurratjuta scrounged

most of the infrastructure that’s gone into the community farm, including fence poles from the Camel Farm and recycled fencing and the water tank from another community. The effort culminated in the fi rst shipment of 150kg of zucchinis to Central Fruit and Vegetable in Alice. During the winter months we’ll put in caulies and cabbages,” says market gardener Bradley Breaden. “And then we’ll put in melons and pumpkins where the zucchinis were.”

The farms will have a ready market with Mo McCosker of Central Fruit and Vegetable pleased to take the lot. “If they’re producing to market standards, we’ll certainly purchase them,” says McCosker. “But we want it packed and graded properly and we’ll be helping them with learning about that.”

Another immediate market is available with the resort trade at Kings Canyon near Wanmara. “We’re talking to the Kings Canyon Resort and the chef has already given us his list of vegies he requires and we’re quite happy to put a few lines in to grow his needs. We’ll get a better price because it’ll go right to him,” explains Jefferies. Wanmara’s fi rst commercial tomato crop has just been harvested.

The four outstations involved conform to a model established by Ngurratjuta. They are all small extended family groups where consensus can be reached in decision making as well as commitment to the project. It is a model that may not be suited to larger communities.

In terms of profi t distribution, the communities want all costs and the wages taken out fi rst. They want the next rotation of crops taken out next, and any surplus will go into a community fund that Ngurratjuta will operate. “That means if they send $60,000 worth of goods to market and there’s $5000 surplus, that goes into the community benefi t fund just for that community,” says Jefferies. “It’s all about improving their lifestyle and closing the gap.”

p46 p47

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Wayne Morris is the fi rst to admit that he did not

invent the bitch box. He was, however, the

fi rst to commercialise it. There has been many a

dog owner who created temporary doghouses designed to keep their

female in heat free from the lusty interference

of amorous males. Purebred dog owners are

especially loath to see their fl uffy white Maltese

bitches deliver litters of cuddly black pups.

Wayne’s Bitch Box is a home-grown product

providing the contraceptive service that many dog

owners demand.

Morris is a handyman by trade, and he designed and built his fi rst bitch box on his secluded 9ha property in Darwin’s rural area. It wasn’t until he became a dog owner himself that he felt the need to segregate his female in season from a growing array of unwanted suitors. He knew that being in the tropics the bitch box had to be spacious, cool and ventilated, but it also had to protect the dog from the rain and the sun. “I knew that nobody would want to buy a bitch box, but they’d defi nitely want to hire one for a week or so,” says Morris. “So I built one and advertised it with the local vets.”

Morris’s prototype was made from timber and rolled on castors, but hygiene was an issue so the next generation was built out of galvanised steel. It had to have double meshing because most customers commented that they had heard of or seen two dogs mating through a single meshed fence and the double meshing gave the customers greater peace of mind.

He sought funding from the Triton Foundation, a group that helps people with new and innovative products, and they advised him on marketing and construction. Make it lighter and easier to handle, they said. So he decided to build a collapsible bitch box and succeeded in getting a Research and

Innovation grant of $16,500 from the Territory Government in 2006.

But even if you have some money, getting a new product designed and constructed takes time and effort. Morris searched the country before fi nding a Sydney designer. Then Darwin’s Universal Engineering agreed to build it out of aluminium, with the fi rst collapsible bitch box slated to appear later this year.

While the majority of Morris’s customers are in the residential urban areas, bitch boxes are also hired to local council pounds and animal welfare centres where overcrowding often occurs. Bitch boxes are also being recommended by veterinary surgeons as recovery kennels for animals after surgery. It is a product that earned Morris Territory Small Business Champion Awards in 2007 and 2008.

But money is no object for many dog owners. Morris recalls that the longest hire of a bitch box to a private customer was for 14 weeks, after the dog had jumped out of a moving car. “I told the dog owner she had been the longest hirer of a bitch box to date,” he recalls, “and she looked at me and said ‘I couldn’t care less, my dog means the world to me and if it took a year I would have hired it for that amount of time’.”

www.bitchbox.com.au

p49

Six workers from each community receive CDEP ‘work for the dole’ wages for their work and time sheets are kept for any additional work in the garden over the growing season “So we’ve actually got a permanent workforce on four outstations of 24 people,” states Jefferies. “The goal is to see them come off CDEP into full-time jobs on their country. In two years time we want to be income generating and self supporting.”

Already the organisers have seen a drift of youth back to these outstations from Alice Springs. Ngurratjuta believes that, once an enterprise is proven to work for them, they will get involved. “The challenge,” according to Jefferies, “is engaging with people: recognising what they have as a resource, seeing how you can tap into it, and generating income. You start things off and let people take ownership of it because activity breeds activity.”

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This image > Wayne Morris and his Bitch Box.

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But the area’s Aboriginal traditional owners patrol those beaches, collecting truckloads of debris, and free what turtles they fi nd alive. And now they’re getting help. World Expeditions Arnhem Land Marine Rescue Project takes travellers to East Arnhem Land, where they join the Yolngu Aborigines in their quest to keep the beaches free of debris, minimising the threat to local wildlife.

Alongside local Yolngu Aboriginal Rangers of Dhimurru and Laynhapuy Land Management, volunteers traverse the coast on foot and by 4WD to collect, catalogue and dispose of rubbish. It’s called ‘voluntourism’, the fusion of travel and volunteer work that

Shane Fewtrell, owner-operator of Trek Larapinta, said that volunteers walk alongside park rangers trimming back weeds and spinifex, repairing washouts and eroded sections of the trail, replacing trail markers and ensuring that the trail is easy to follow. “Our most recent trail project involved 15 volunteers who thoroughly enjoyed getting

back in touch with nature. As part of our tour travellers receive slideshows presented by the park rangers in the evenings and talks with specialists from the region, including a historian,” Fewtrell said.

The Fred Hollows Foundation and World Expeditions have created a special trip, which offers a volunteerism aspect in conjunction with local Indigenous communities in the Territory’s Top End. This project is called the See Australia Expedition.

Participants have to raise funds to go on the trip, part of which becomes a donation to the Foundation and part of which covers the total travel cost of their trip. The nine-day program takes visitors to wilderness regions in and around Kakadu and Katherine. The tour connects visitors to the Jawoyn region’s traditional owners where they will visit the Manyallaluk and Beswick Indigenous communities in the Katherine region to learn more about the Foundation’s partnerships. The See Australia Expedition was

recently featured on Channel Nine’s travel program Getaway, on a special episode titled Holidays with Heart.

Daniel Martin from The Fred Hollows Foundation said the tours were an important part the Foundation’s activity schedule. “By bringing people on these tours we enable them to see and experience the positive effects their donations are having on these communities in the Northern Territory and helps to raise awareness of the Foundation’s work within Indigenous communities throughout Australia.”

For more contact: Territory Discoveries at www.territorydiscoveries.com

sitting on the sand dunes munching mud crab and rock oysters and watching sea turtles play in the water.”

A global growth in demand for voluntourism experiences has been seen in Africa, Asia and South America. Its evolution in Australia is being supported by a new wave of tourists who are looking to make a contribution as part of their holiday. These experiences are especially appealing to travellers wanting an interactive learning experience where they will be immersed into their travel destination.

The Territory tourism industry has responded to this demand expanding its offering to

include everything from formal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) community activities as part of business conventions and conferences in Alice Springs and Darwin, to tailored tour groups who pay for the opportunity of visiting our remote beaches and natural landscapes.

Research undertaken by Tourism NT has shown that around 20 per cent of the Experiential Travellers, who form part of Tourism NT’s target market, indicated that they would be likely to participate in volunteer work on their next holiday if it was offered. On average they spend around $3000 on voluntourism holidays.

It should be a pristine wilderness beach, but it’s not. The windswept coast of East Arnhem Land is virtually devoid of people or development, a stunning white sand carpet that stretches to the horizon. It is a beach that a variety of sea turtle species return to every year to lay their eggs. But in the past decade they’ve returned only to be snared in a deadly tangle of fi shing debris—plastic rubbish and tonnes of rope discarded by commercial fi shermen far out to sea. Unable to swim or free themselves, the turtles wash up on the shore and perish in the sun.

sees travellers lending a hand in some of the world’s most spectacular destinations.

Voluntourism traveller Louise Errington recently completed Conservation Volunteers Australia’s Arnhem Land Marine Debris Survey project, saying that working for a worthy cause re-energised her body and soul. “We were presented with a pristine wilderness where deserted white beaches stretched for kilometres under deep blue skies,” she recalled. “But what I found confronting was the extent of debris on the beach in this otherwise untouched landscape. The work was hot and unglamorous, but it was well worth it at the end of the day,

These travellers are concerned about the environment and social issues facing society. Voluntours tend to be attractive to younger women looking for genuine projects that have benefi ts to local people and the environment.

Some of the more progressive operators in the NT who target this market have already added complete voluntourism itineraries to their product range. Trek Larapinta has established a Larapinta Trail Volunteer Maintenance Project that enables travellers to participate in a variety of trail maintenance work along the 223km Larapinta Trail in Central Australia, just prior to the walking season.

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It should be a pristine wilderness beach, but it’s not. The windswept coast of East Arnhem Land is virtually devoid of people or development, a stunning white sand carpet that stretches to the horizon. It is a beach that a variety of sea turtle species return to every year to lay their eggs. But in the past decade they’ve returned only to be snared in a deadly tangle of fi shing debris—plastic rubbish and tonnes of rope discarded by commercial fi shermen far out to sea. Unable to swim or free themselves, the turtles wash up on the shore and perish in the sun.

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Who would have thought a year ago Australia would have a $60 billion defi cit?

Who would have predicted a decade ago that south-

east Australia was about to suffer its longest, hottest

drought on record?

Prediction is obviously impossible. However, getting ready for change, whether good or bad, is sound business practice. This is why the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA), under the leadership of its CEO Luke Bowen, is investing in some scenario planning.

With support from the Australian Government’s Caring for Our Country Program, the NTCA has engaged the hugely experienced vet and pastoral advisor Ian Perkins and a technical team from Charles Darwin University to develop some models of the cattle industry over the next 30 years and see what happens when you change some of the assumptions. “We have a vision of a thriving cattle industry in the future,” says Bowen, “but that won’t happen unless our members are prepared for change.”

Some of the possible shocks to the industry are pretty well known—the accidental introduction of foot-and-mouth, for instance, would devastate the export industry for a

few years so the NTCA has been a strong supporter of investment in quarantine.

Others are less predictable. “We really don’t know what we are going to get when the government introduces a carbon pollution reduction scheme,” explains Bowen. “We know fuel prices will probably rise but don’t yet know how the government is going to manage methane emissions from cattle, if it attempts to.”

Some possible threats to the industry are purely commercial. “The Territory relies pretty heavily on the live export market to Indonesia where Australian beef occupies the top end of the market,” says Bowen. “But it won’t take much of a shift in the price of the dollar for competitors to take this market away from us. With Indian buffalo meat fi lling the cheaper end of the market, Australia may have to think about new places to sell to.”

Fortunately the NT does have some advantages in markets that have not been

fully exploited. “We could run some of the greenest beef in the world,” says Perkins, who has spent time looking at niche markets in Europe. “We know a lot about running cattle here in ways that will keep the country healthy—and some markets will pay a premium for that.”

There is also the potential for better prices if the meat production is associated with social benefi ts. “The NTCA is really keen to help Indigenous pastoralists develop viable cattle businesses,” says Bowen, who previously worked for the Indigenous Land Corporation. “And there are huge social benefi ts for Indigenous people who get jobs in our industry.”

However, the scenarios are showing that there needs to be care about employment trends in the industry, and the training needed to give Indigenous people a secure future in the industry that they were instrumental in establishing over a century ago. “A lot of places are going digital—

automatic drafting and weighing, remote checks on watering points. Many of the old jobs on stations are going,” explains Bowen.

On the other hand, a rise in the price of fuel may mean droving overland is better value than road trains. The industry also needs to think of animal welfare issues—it can help to have a few extra people around to keep cattle calm. And then there is climate change and whatever that may bring the industry.

The aim of the scenarios is to bring all these ideas together and help pastoralists be ready for change. “If you have some idea of what might be coming you can plan,” says Perkins. “It’s the surprises that hurt.”

The NTCA is already seen in the industry as one of Australia’s more visionary primary producer organisations. And, pastoralists realise the value it provides, with over 90 per cent being members—a higher proportion than in any of the states. But to maintain such support the organisation

has to be on its toes. “Scenario planning is one way we can help NTCA members,” says Bowen. “It will also help us persuade government where change is needed.”

And the biggest change may be fairly simple to implement—allowing pastoralists to run a range of businesses based on their leases. “In future, producers are going to have to be more fl exible,” says Bowen. “By giving producers more options for making an income from their leases—tourism, carbon management, even conservation if the price is right—our members will have a greater chance of staying on the land and looking after it as well as keeping their profi ts high.”

The Territory cattle industry, like cattlemen, has survived many challenges. Scenario planning should help ensure the industry is ready for the next big one.

“If you have some idea of what might be coming

you can plan... It’s the surprises that hurt.”

p52 p53

Pictures > Cattle industry scenes around the Territory.

p54 p55

ECONOMIC GROWTHIn the 2009–10 Northern Territory Government Budget Papers, the Northern Territory Treasury forecasts economic growth to increase by 4.1% in 2008–09 and by 2.0% in 2009–10.

GSP 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09e 2009–10f

% Change 6.5% 5.2% 3.9% 4.1% 2.0%

FOOTNOTES 1 Due to extreme volatility in monthly Territory labour force fi gures, the ABS does not publish seasonally adjusted data.

p55

• In 2008 the Northern Territory’s State Final Demand,

a measure of the demand for goods and services in the

economy, increased by 8.5%, compared to a national

average increase of 4.1%.

• Total consumption rose by 2.4%, while total investment

increased by 23.4% to a record level of $5.4 billion.

• In 2008, infl ation adjusted total construction work

done increased by 32.4% to $2.65 billion.

• In the year to March 2009, the number of residential building approvals in the

Territory decreased by 31.4% to 878.

EMPLOYMENT

• Employment in the Territory increased by 3.6% in the year to April 2009 to 119,570.

• The trend unemployment rate was 4.1%.

• The trend participation rate was 74.9%, the highest of the jurisdictions.

• The ANZ Job Advertisement Series reports that the number of job vacancies in the Territory, in seasonally adjusted terms, decreased by 33.1% over the year to April 2009. Nationally they declined by 58.9%.

POPULATION

• As at 30 September 2008, the Northern Territory’s population was estimated to be 221,055.

• The annual rate of increase was estimated to be 2.2%, above the national growth rate of 1.8%.

INFLATION

• In annual terms, Darwin’s CPI increased by 2.8% in the March quarter 2009. Nationally, the annual infl ation rate increased by 2.5%.

AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS

• In the March quarter 2009, Average Weekly Earnings per full-time adult employee in the Territory increased by 4.3% to $1176.80 in annual terms, compared with a national average increase of 5.0% to $1228.50.

• Over the same period, the Territory’s Wage Price Index rose by 5.1%, compared to 4.1% nationally.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• In the year to March 2009, Northern Territory goods exports grew by 58.1% to a record level of $6498 million.

• Imports increased by 74.6% to $4307 million, giving a balance of trade surplus of $2191 million.

RETAIL TRADE

• In the year to March 2009, infl ation adjusted retail turnover increased by 9.5% in the Territory compared to a 1.0% increase nationally.

• In the year to April 2009, total sales of new motor vehicles decreased by 6.7% to 9691 in the Territory while decreasing by 11.7% at the national level over the same period.

It is a well known fact among Northern Territory

builders that house construction in remote

areas is considerably more expensive than the same

home built in Darwin. Builders not only have to transport materials long

distances, but are forced to bear the expenses of tradespeople travelling to the site for extended

periods because local labour is unavailable. But now a company is cutting those

costs by producing homes in Darwin before transporting them in sections to remote

locations anywhere in northern Australia.

But don’t call them kit homes or transportables. Nimble Homes produces personalised residences, made to the clients’ requirements. “We’re not interested in making transportables—we’re interested in making homes,” explains Nimble’s director Nick Hanigan. “We anticipate that we can have a scale of production at our factory that can deliver value to our clients and overcomes the obstacles of trying to fi nd skilled trades in remote areas. Our reach can go into Queensland but our focus is on the Territory and the Kimberley.”

Nimble Homes incorporated in June 2008 and started construction of its fi rst home at the Palmerston workshop in September. Completed in December, the home was transported in sections to Melaleuca station 200km east of Darwin. It was a contemporary design that took two weeks to fi nish on site. “We chose Nimble as a name, as a reminder to ourselves that we need to be responsive to our customers’ needs and not be confi ned in a box,” says Hanigan. “We actively use new materials and new approaches to building, and we’re setting up a different form of home delivery, which is in keeping with that philosophy of fl exibility.”

The builders have just fi nished their second effort, the Banyan Street house, a duplex of two homes separated by a common fi rewall, bound for the Kimberley town Kununurra.

It is a town currently undergoing a housing shortage, and the new duplex is expected to be in hot demand. “The Melaleuca was very contemporary, but the Banyan Street house is more of a traditional Queenslander style home with the wrap-around verandas rather than the central breezeway,” says Hanigan. “It features high ceilings, a steel frame construction, tile fl oors throughout, and it’s air conditioned although we’ve used louvres extensively for cross ventilation so you don’t have to use air conditioning in the dry season.”

The idea of building quality homes to a customer’s specifi cations and transporting them to remote areas is likely to fi nd a market in far-fl ung Aboriginal communities across the north. With quality accommodation for specialised professionals like nurses, teachers or police expensive and diffi cult to construct on site, the idea of imported housing should be welcomed. “My vision for involvement with the communities is to actually work with Aboriginal people to design these homes,” states Hanigan. “Because the great thing about this approach is they can be personalised, and if you have the opportunity to personalise a home people can start to take more pride and ownership of it, plus there could be great things Nimble could learn from this process too.”

Below > Nick Hanigan with a duplex in progress.

Manoli’s GrilledEggplant with Skorthalia

1kg brushed potatoes, peeled

and diced

50g peeled and crushed garlic

White vinegar (to taste)

Juice of one lemon

Olive oil

Salt

Black pepper

1kg eggplant, sliced

Plain fl our

METHOD: Boil potatoes and drain. Place in food processor with garlic, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Chill.

Heat olive oil in frying pan until quite hot. Toss eggplant slices in fl our with a pinch of salt and fry in hot oil until golden and cooked.

Serve hot eggplant slices with the cold potato mixture (skorthalia) on the side.

or two” eggplants a year. But although he may not like eating them, he certainly lavishes his plants with plenty of attention.

By 7am most days, the former cattleyard builder is out among his 14 rows of plants picking the fruit at just the right stage of maturity: his agent, who sells to Asian markets in Sydney, wants them about the size of an avocado. As he travels the rows, he notes with satisfaction the number of buds and fl owers, and gently hooks the younger fruit over a wire to support them as they grow.

“They have to be picked every day,” Toohey says. “And you have to pick them to size—for the Sydney market they want them with next to no seeds, when they’re immature. They’re right when they just fi t into the palm of your hand.”

The picking and packing are fi nished by mid to late morning, with dozens of crates tucked away to chill in the coolroom. Any later and the fruit are too hot to pack and travel well.

Toohey grows the Angela variety, which produces pretty striped fruit, from seed he imports each year from the Netherlands. He’s been growing eggplant for the past fi ve years, producing about half to one tonne of eggplant each week.

Meanwhile, back at Manoli’s, one of the dishes selling like hotcakes is his Grilled Eggplant with Skorthalia (see recipe): eggplant slices cooked in olive oil till golden and served warm with a contrasting cold hit of garlic-spiked potato.

It may be a simple dish, but it’s fi t for royalty.

A FOCUS ON TERRITORY PRODUCE.

by Sam McCue

The regal purple fruit might be made into moussaka in Greece, parmigiana in Italy or ratatouille in France. In India, its unctuous texture makes it popular for curries and chutneys; in Indonesia it’s combined with chilli in terong balado. In the Middle East, stuffed eggplant becomes imam bayildi, whose name means “the priest fainted” (because of the deliciousness of the dish, so legend has it).

While the most familiar variety may be the fat, glossy, almost-black eggplant that’s usually available in supermarkets, a visit to Darwin’s Rapid Creek markets reveals an array of other shapes, sizes and colours, including slender fi nger eggplants in mauve, white or pale green; mottled white and green golfball eggplants and tiny green pea eggplants that are added to Thai curries for their crunch.

“The versatility of the eggplant is astonishing,” writes chef Stephanie Alexander in her foodies’ bible The Cook’s Companion. “Eggplant can be fried, battered, layered in a gratin, grilled, stuffed, stewed, pureed or baked ... I could not exist for more than a few days without cooking some eggplant.”

Darwin chef Manoli Papathomas, whose Manoli’s Greek Taverna goes through about 20 large eggplants each week, shares her enthusiasm.

“People just love it,” he says. “I like it as a dip, or in a stew with meat, or a vegetable stew with zucchini and okra. It has a nice texture and fl avour, plus it looks nice—purply-blue—it’s beautiful.”

By contrast, Larry Toohey, who grows eggplant hydroponically at his 8ha Darwin River property, only eats “one

Whether you call it aubergine, brinjal, melanzane or eggplant, it sure gets around. The eggplant originated in India and now, in its many forms, has found its way into kitchens halfway across the world.

p56 p57

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nextregular feature:

A fi nal fi eld of 93 high calibre artworks has been short-listed from more than 300 entries for this year’s Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.

With artists submitting entries from across Australia, the pre-selection process was a challenge and the standard of entries was extremely high.

The pre-selection panel comprised well-known and respected names in the Indigenous art world including Steven Gilchrist from the National Gallery of Victoria, Lola Greeno from Arts Tasmania, Dr Sarah Scott from the Australian National University, Carly Lane from the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Franchesca Cubillo from the Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory (MAGNT).

Now in its 26th year, the Telstra Art Award is the longest-running art award dedicated to the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and has come to be regarded as one of the premier national events in the Australian Indigenous art community.

ShoreBase announced it has been awarded a major services contract to provide logistic support for Eni Australia’s offshore exploration activities. Eni Australia has up to 16 wells planned over the next two years, using Darwin as its supply base point.

When Eni commences its drilling in the fi eld it is estimated that up to three vessels a week will be loading out of Darwin. ShoreBase provides services in material handling, warehousing and terrestrial, marine and aviation transport systems through the ShoreLands Group of companies.

ShoreBase operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Situated in Hudson Creek and Berrimah, the supply bases are within 10km of the East Arm Wharf. ShoreBase partners benefit from the success of this contract with the provision of the road based interstate transport of materials to the Northern Territory.

Samson and Delilah, the feature fi lm debut from Territory director-writer-cinematographer, Warwick Thornton, has taken out the Camera d’Or (Golden Camera) at the Cannes International Film Festival.

The coveted prize was awarded by an independent jury to the best fi rst feature fi lm presented in any of the three Cannes selections—Offi cial Selection, Director’s Fortnight or International Critics Week.

French actress Isabelle Adjani awarded the prize to what the jury described as “the best love fi lm we’ve seen for many year.”

The fi lm tells the love story of two Aboriginal teenagers in a remote community in the Central Australian desert and features stand-out performances by newcomers Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson. It was co-produced by Alice Springs’ CAAMA Productions in association with producer Kath Shelper’s company Scarlett Pictures.

David Stratton wrote: “Anyone who cares about Australian cinema should see this film. I’d go further and suggest that anyone who cares about Australia should see it. Samson and Delilah is, quite simply, one of the fi nest fi lms ever made in this country.”

Arafura Resources Limitedannounced that the $24 million equity investment agreement with Jiangsu Eastern China Non-Ferrous Metals Investment Holding Co, Ltd East China Exploration (ECE) has received Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

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http://www.nt.gov.au