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18 NT NEWS. Saturday, October 12, 2013. www.ntnews.com.au 2013 Alice Springs Construction Industry Forum .POEBZ0DUPCFSt%PVCMF5SFFCZ)JMUPO"MJDF4QSJOHT Working with industry to build relationships If you are an Alice Springs or Tennant Creek based company involved in the construction industry, register now to hear about future programs and potential work. This forum is FREE and is part of the October Business Month Calender of Events. Registrations close Monday 14 October tTo register visit www.nt.gov.au/infrastructure SATURDAY EXTRA l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l ntnews.com.au It’s cheers to the Don A new art exhibition recalls the historic, and at times seedy, past of a legendary pub that for many reasons was one of Darwin’s favourite watering holes, MEAGAN DILLON writes Darwin artist Chayni Henry with her painting The Don Bamboo Lounge for an exhibition that celebrates the Don Hotel Picture: HELEN ORR IT WAS the infamous Don Hotel — a place where blood was shed, beer was knocked back by the gallon and devilry in the darkest corner was legend. Before the Territory’s capi- tal was bombed by the Japan- ese in World War II, Gordon’s Don Hotel stood strong at the corner of Cavenagh and Bennett streets in the Wild West frontier town that was Darwin. The Don sprouted from unlikely beginnings — it was run by a woman. Darwin widow Christina Gordon owned both the Don and the Vic Hotel during the 1920s. Back then, school teacher Mary Tanner thought Darwin was a neglected town and the Don’s inhabitants were the boozy scum of society. ‘‘It was hot and dusty and dilapidated, long grass and neglect everywhere. It looked as though nobody cared about the place, almost as though it was abandoned,’’ she said. ‘‘I never walked anywhere near the Don Hotel — no respectable woman did. It was known as ‘the bloodhouse’.’’ The Don Hotel was dam- aged in the war but — being as tough as the men who drank there — it wasn’t closed for long. Its place in Territory history was cemented as walls were resurrected and patrons returned to relish in the guilty pleasure that was the Don. The legendary hotel had many faces and moved around a bit — later relocat- ing further up Cavenagh Street. Now, the Cavenagh Hotel sits in its place. But the colourful history of the Don has never been forgotten. Men could be seen sitting on the concrete steps out the front of the hotel, long-neck beer in hand. In April 1952, it was be- lieved to have housed a killer. Czechoslovakian immigr- ants Jerry Koci and John Novotny were the last men to receive the death penalty in the Northern Territory fol- lowing the murder of taxi driver George Grantham. One of the men was rumoured to be staying at the Don at the time of the execution-style killing. They were hanged at the Fannie Bay jail in August 1952. The public bar, known as the Bamboo Lounge, was a place where prospective patrons should have been cautioned before walking through its doors — people had been killed on its floors. It shut on September 15, 1970, and many thought a piece of folklore had died. The NT News once reported that, ‘‘with the Bamboo Lounge went a piece of Darwin history — if not exactly culture’’. But the essence of the Don lived on. There was an old saying in Darwin that reflected the Don’s roaring reputation — that men would go to the Vic Hotel if they wanted a beer, but went to the Don if they wanted a fight. Following Cyclone Tracy in 1974, a drinker who was angry about being kicked out of the venue returned with a shotgun and blasted loose in- side the pub. One barrel load went through the bar fridge. In September 1978, the then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser visited Darwin with Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen. Both men would remember their time at the Don. The Canberra Times headline read: ‘‘Girl takes PM’s tomato.’’ Officials told reporters that a waitress took a sip of Mr Fraser’s wine before carrying it to his table, and at one stage she reached over the Prime Minister’s shoulder and took a piece of tomato from his plate before eating it. Apparently she was stoned. Through the decades, the Don transformed from a ra- cist public bar with a dirty floor to a casino which had a James Bond look-a-like sur- rounded by three beautiful women on a booklet for opening night. It became Federal Pacific’s second casino in Australia. The Don was turned into an ‘‘interim casino’’ until the company completed its $10 million casino-hotel complex, which was sched- uled to open in 1982, at Darwin’s Mindil Beach. Paul Everingham, who was the Territory’s first chief minister, had always praised the Don.
