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forgotten territory

(2016-2019)

Forgotten Territory was a weekly column of historic photos in the Northern Territory News which I curated from 2016 until 2019 supported by the collections of the Northern Territory Library, Northern Territory Archives Service, State Library of South Australia as well as other major collections and Facebook groups from around Australia. Click on the images to read the story behind the image.

Note: May contain images of people who have died.

forgotten territory

(2016-2019)

Note: May contain images of people who have died.

forgotten territory

(2016-2019)

Note: May contain images of people who have died.

forgotten territory

(2016-2019)

Note: May contain images of people who have died.

This week marked 45 years since the Northern Territory's worst railway accident. Just after 5am on a November morning in 1972, a train fully loaded with iron ore crashed into a stationary train at Darwin's Frances Bay rail yards. One railway official said, "I never saw anything like it. I ran down there expecting to be pulling bodies out of the wreckage." But incredibly, there were no casualties, even among the crew of the runaway train, who had realised it was out of control and jumped out in time. However the accident destroyed over $1 million worth track and rolling stock.

Published: 12 November 2017 

Picture: Library & Archives NT. Darwin rail smash, 1972, PictureNT, Joy Collins Collection, PH0149/0251 

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forgotten territory

(2016-2019)

Forgotten Territory was a weekly photo column of historic images in the Northern Territory News which I curated from 2016 until 2019 supported by the collections of the Northern Territory Library and other cultural institutions around Australia, as well as local history Facebook groups.

Click on the images to read the story behind the image.

Warning: May contain images of people who have died.

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