From Cyclone Tracy to Cyclone Alfred – Glenn Campbell’s life as an ‘Accidental Cyclone Tourist’

Photojournalist Glenn Campbell was covering Cyclone Alfred and called me just before he evacuated from Lismore yesterday afternoon. As ever he’s good for a yarn and yesterday he told me a few tales from a long career chasing cyclones – and much more – as an “accidental cyclone tourist.” Glenn Campbell – Lismore I just [...]

‘He dropped his trousers and farted in my face’ – why Lionel Curtis killed Mo McNaught at the Adelaide River Inn

It was a hot Friday night in October 1979 and a construction crew were well into a session at the Adelaide River Inn, 100 kilometres or so south of Darwin in the Northern Territory, then as now a very comfortable pub set in roomy tree-shaded grounds. Most of the building crew were relaxing with a [...]

Democrats: ‘Our team on the ground is kicking ass’

Vice-president Kamala Harris. Photo: supplied A few hours ago I received an email from Jen O’Malley Dillon, Campaign Chair for Harris for President. Unlike earlier emails—and these past few days there’ve been more than a few—this latest was upbeat and has shrugged off the underdog tag the Harris campaign has worn to date. O’Malley Dillon’s [...]

Runners. San Francisco International Airport, October 2024

I recently flew into San Francisco International Airport and had a 5 hour layover before my onward flight to Newark Liberty airport. An hour-long wait to clear immigration soaked up a chunk of that time and, after stumbling around the seemingly perpetual construction that seems to blight all airports nowadays while I spent more time [...]

“Garrkan: an avian ‘troublemaker for fire'” – presentation to the Raptor Research Foundation conference, Charlotte, NC October 2024

I’m in the wonderful city of Charlotte in North Carolina, and later today I’ll present my paper updating our research into fire-spreading raptors in the Top End of the Northern Territory in Australia at the 2024 Raptor Research Foundation conference. Following are some of the highlights of my presentation. I last presented at the RRF [...]

Why Labor will win the 2024 NT election: A chat with noted psephologist Doctor Advocatus Diaboli

The NT election will be held tomorrow, 24 August 2024. I now reckon that Eva Lawler’s Australian Labor Party (ALP) will squeak back to office with either a one-seat majority or as a minority government with the support of an Independent. That’s not a reckoning shared by most of those I’ve talked to over the [...]

The Sports – Live at Billboard. Melbourne, 1981

The Sports Live At Billboard 1981 is the 42nd release of the Australian Road Crew Association’s (ARCA) Desk Tape Series. Many years ago while based in a land far away – well, Melbourne – I worked with The Sports in Australia and the UK as an FoH (front of house) sound engineer who tried – [...]

Who’ll win the NT election? Fuck knows …

Bob Gosford reports from Darwin As I noted earlier this year, 2024 will be a big year for elections. Yesterday’s issue of the writ kicked off the NT election on Saturday 24 August that will have ramifications for both major parties at a national level – for Labor to retain its electoral dominance; for the [...]

The vernacular architecture of Ltyentye Apurte racecourse, NT

A few years back I was lucky enough to get out to the (semi) annual horse races at Ltyentye Apurte (also known as Santa Teresa), a small community east of Alice Springs. You can see a selection of my photos from the day's racing here. Recently I was going through some old photo files and [...]

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