Sometimes the toughest part of being a cartoonist in the Territory is choosing which particular news story to cover. While some news days are slow others can be ripe with potential, like yesterday:
A Territory motorist clocked at 150kmh on the Stuart Highway was nabbed doing something nasty to himself at the same time. He also filmed it. Oh, dear. Will it stand up in court? I chose not to do a cartoon on this one, mainly because the apprentice has started asking me to read my cartoons to him each day. This one would have been way too difficult to explain to a six year old.
Darwin was blanketed in an unusually thick fog on Wednesday morning, which killed at least one person. The fog surprised the weather bureau, along with everybody else. I stayed away from this one too. Nothing funny in it when someone dies.
Absolutely nothing happened in Darwin on Tuesday night. House-breakers and thieves took the night off, according to police. This is as unusual as a thick fog and is possibly rarer. Still, no cartoon on this one.
Of course, we're in the guts of an election campaign, so there's a bit of material there as well. Yesterday's standout story was on former CLP leader Jodeen Carney failing to rule out a challenge to Terry Mills' leadership after the election. This makes Jodeen about the 57th CLP candidate to fail to rule out a challenge to Terry Mills. I've already had a couple of major digs at the Country Liberals during the campaign so I decided to leave them alone today.
Eventually, I settled on doing something on the High Court's decision in the Blue Mud Bay case. The decision grants Aboriginal traditional owners exclusive access to around 80% of the Territory coastline. Effectively, they now control most of our coastal waters and rivers. This is a big, big deal and will have major implications for the whole country. Bit of a hard subject to make funny, but I tried. I'll post the toon in a couple of days.
Classic cartoon #4
A spate of spectacular air crashes during the early 90s had Aussies thankful we had Qantas. Might be a different story now, what with bits blowing up in their planes and stuff. Click for a larger version.
Cartoon copyright © Northern Territory News. Please don't pinch it.
Showtime!
The Royal Darwin Show kicks off today. Hooray!
I'll be at the Showgrounds this Saturday between 10am and 2pm flogging off some of my old books prior to the launch of the new one. They're going cheap. And I may even sign them. Make your way along the Yellow Brick Road - yes, you heard me - to the NT News stand. I'll be wearing a beard.
By the way, the cartoon above is Classic Cartoon #3. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, when PC was running rampant, my decpiction of Territory women generated quite a bit of debate. These sorts of cartoons were branded sexist, which encouraged me do a lot more of them. Heh heh.
Classic cartoon #2
This one got me into trouble. Can't imagine why.
Cartoon copyright © Northern Territory News. Please don't pinch it.
For whom the road tolls
The Territory's rate of road deaths is three times higher than everywhere else in the country, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. While rates are dropping nationwide, our road toll continues to climb, with the NT heading for one of its worst years on record.
Cartoon copyright © Northern Territory News. Please don't pinch it.
Classic cartoon #1
I've worked out that over the last 20 years I've cooked up around 12000 cartoons for the NT News and its sister papers. That's a lot. Some of them were even funny, like the one above. Some of them got me into trouble. Some of them, I'm told, are considered classics.
So, I'm kicking off a new series featuring a few of the alleged classic cartoons from days gone by. I'll be posting a couple a week, when I'm too lazy to come up with anything else. Click the image for a slightly easier-to-read version.
As usual, these cartoons are copyright © Northern Territory News. Please don't misappropriate them.
This week's UFO shock!
You know you're facing a serious problem when politicans start seeing things. Something must be done! About the politicians, I mean. I don't mind the UFOs, as long as they don't land in my street in the middle of the night and set all the dogs off. Or vapourise me.
Even though Alienz has finished its run in People, I've still got a few strips floating around. Might as well post them, I'm thinking. They'll probably never see the light of day again otherwise. Enjoy.
Camels off
It's a bit like selling ice to Eskimos. Territory camels are going to be exported to the Middle East. Cartoon copyright © Northern Territory News. Please don't pinch it.
Book, exhibition update
It's all under control.
Everything happens on August 15.
Details in the sidebar>>>>>
Oh, and I'll be at this year's Darwin Show flogging off some of my old books.
Stay tuned for further details...
Everything happens on August 15.
Details in the sidebar>>>>>
Oh, and I'll be at this year's Darwin Show flogging off some of my old books.
Stay tuned for further details...
Get with the program
My upcoming 20 year retrospective exhibition (which isn't too far off now) has been included as part of the program for this year's Darwin Festival.The program was officially launched last night at a function in Darwin's Botanic Gardens. Around 200 hundred people turned out for the free drinks, including me.
It's the first time I've been involved in the festival.
Artistic Director Malcolm Blaylock, artistically directing his final festival in 2008, did a sterling job running through the entire program and working the big screen at the same time. There is much music and much dance, emphasising the festival's theme of bringing together acts from our near neighbours in Asia.
When my bit popped up on the screen three people cheered, including me. Most, though, let out audible gasps, which is the exact reaction I usually hope for. Heh heh.
The festival opens on August 14.
I hate it when that happens
Back in 1991, on Saturday August 17, I drew up a cartoon for the following day's Sunday Territorian on that month's Territory budget. Delivered by then Treasurer, Barry Coulter, it was a typical early 90s slash-and-burn budget. I depicted Coulter as a wild cowboy running around shooting everyone who needed funding: cops, nurses, teachers, aborigines etc. It wasn't one of my better efforts but it got the point across.
I delivered the cartoon to the paper in the morning and went home.
That afternoon, Wade John Frankum walked into the Strathfield Shopping Plaza in Sydney and went on a shooting rampage. The massacre left eight dead, including Frankum, who turned his weapon on himself. Half a dozen were wounded.
Naturally, without the internet or 24-hour news channels, I didn't hear about it until the following morning. And no-one at the paper thought to pull the cartoon. There was predictable outrage. Oh well. Sometimes life imitates art.
Anyway, something similar happened last week. The cartoon below appeared in last Monday's NT News. Once again, it's on the Territory Government's determination to take televisions off parents who can't control their kids:
Later that day Australia was shocked to learn of the apparent axe murders of a Cowra grandmonther - and her two grandchildren - allegedly by her 69-year-old husband.
Not much you can say about that, really, except that I'm thankful it doesn't happen too often.
Cartoon copyright © Northern Territory News. Please don't pinch it.
Close Encounters of the Territory kind
An NT News reader writes:
Why do wickings aliens have 3 eyes, but 2 legs (and arms). Get with the program. Their spaceships even have 3 feet!
Eyb, Hdoo
Well, Eyb, it's just the way I draw them, okay. And what kind of a name is Eyb anyway? Sounds alien to me.
Anyway, here's a wrap up of recent alien-related cartoons:
Yep, a whole town is buzzed by pesky ufos just as statistics show violent crimes have almost doubled in the Territory over the last ten years.
The CLP, now known as the Country Liberals, have just about completed the preselection thing for the next election. Included are a couple of big names who've indicated they might, at some future time, be interested in being leader of the parliamentary wing. Just what they need.
The end of open speed limits on NT highways has led to an increase in Alien craft actually catching up to people.
The obvious result if they came in peace but landed in Darwin. Click for a larger version.
Finally, debate continues unabated in the NT News letters pages on how 'southerners' are ruining our lives with their new-fangled ideas and notions. How dare they.
Cartoons copyright © Northern Territory News. Please don't beam them out of here.
Why do wickings aliens have 3 eyes, but 2 legs (and arms). Get with the program. Their spaceships even have 3 feet!
Eyb, Hdoo
Well, Eyb, it's just the way I draw them, okay. And what kind of a name is Eyb anyway? Sounds alien to me.
Anyway, here's a wrap up of recent alien-related cartoons:
Yep, a whole town is buzzed by pesky ufos just as statistics show violent crimes have almost doubled in the Territory over the last ten years.
The CLP, now known as the Country Liberals, have just about completed the preselection thing for the next election. Included are a couple of big names who've indicated they might, at some future time, be interested in being leader of the parliamentary wing. Just what they need.
The end of open speed limits on NT highways has led to an increase in Alien craft actually catching up to people.
The obvious result if they came in peace but landed in Darwin. Click for a larger version.
Finally, debate continues unabated in the NT News letters pages on how 'southerners' are ruining our lives with their new-fangled ideas and notions. How dare they.
Cartoons copyright © Northern Territory News. Please don't beam them out of here.
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