Meet the man who once claimed to be the Territory's largest and strongest. A former sideshow strong man and miner, Charles 'Tiny' Swanson moved to the NT and ran a market garden at Maranboy near Katherine in the 1940s and 50s, with wife Ruby (pictured) and her pet wallaby. Weighing 240 kilograms, his strength was the stuff of legend. He could apparently load 44-gallon fuel drums onto a truck by himself, and was said to have once lifted the end of a 22-foot piece of railway line while seven other men struggled with the other end. He fell ill in 1954 and when he died shortly after, a two-tonne crane was required to lower his oversize coffin at what is now the Gardens Cemetery.

Image: Eric Martin Collection, Northern Territory Library

Published: 6 January 2019