Northern Territory Times and Gazette (Darwin, NT : 1873 - 1927), Saturday 2 March 1918, page 21


The Lover's Walk.

Sir,-My attention has been drawn to a Government notification in your columns concerning the closure of " the pathway througb Government House grounds known as the Lover's Walk." Well, sir, I have not been down the Lover's Walk since the wet season set in. On the last occassion I did not take much notice of the walk, as I was doing a wild stampede from the Club State Hotel to the swim-ming baths to try and wash the taste of the Government draught whisky out of my mouth. But from my own previous observations, confirmed by those of the oldest residents of Dar-win the Lover's Walk never did run through Government House grounds. It would have to achieve a geological miracle to get within the sacred pre-cincts of the Grand Lama's residence It would, in fact, have to ascend a

precipice high enough to throw down Government scapegoats, and irrecon-cilable piessn^u aud effectively break their necks. What I did notice, however, was that the sea had en-croached considerably upon the walk, which was crumbling away in places, and wore the woe-begone neglected appearance of a State Hotel. As a matter of fact it is about time that members of the Caterpillar Club took their Joss down to the edge of the ocean, when the tide is rising, and, from his portable throne, order the waves to retire, and encroach no fur-ther, upon " the pathway running through Government House grounds, known as the Lover's Walk." Fail-

ing this, King Ken-u-it's aboriginal aide-de-camp could address the wild waves in Larrykeyah, the acting Government secretary could swear at them in the lingo of Billy Hughes, and the health inspector endeavour to cajole them into servility with the blarney of Brian Boru. The cere-mony connected with this exhibition of living waxworks, if long protracted by speech-making, might result in the rising tide encircling the whole party and drowning them. This, of course, would not be so bad so long as the movie man managed to obtain a good picture and got safely away, Some bold bad Bolsheviks, however, might take advantage of the opportunity to plunder the vaults of Government House of all the hoarded entertaining and travelling allowances. Should

the Darwin Town Council not wake

up in the meantime aud find its lost spinal column, the next announce-ment we shall hear will be the closure to the public of the lower part of Mitchell-street, and the road from the corner of Smith-street to the corner

of Mitchell-street, both being des-critbed as being " pathways leading to Government House."-Yours, &c.,

SISYPHUS.38

Darwin, Feb. 22nd, 1918.