2004: Darwin locals bare bums as Ghan becomes first passenger train from Adelaide to Darwin

TOURISTS and dignitaries on the first passenger train from Adelaide to Darwin in 2004 could be forgiven for thinking they’d hit rock bottom when they looked out the window as they approached Darwin

he Ghan passes Livingstone airstrip. Picture: CLIVE HYDE

TOURISTS and dignitaries on the first passenger train from Adelaide to Darwin in 2004 could be forgiven for thinking they’d hit rock bottom when they looked out the window as they approached Darwin.

There were 400 cheeky folks from Livingstone who bared their bums to welcome The Ghan.

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Aboard the train were then chief minister Claire Martin and then prime minister John Howard.

The Great Moon, as it became known, was re-enacted 10 years later by 35 of the original bare-bottomed crew.

The Ghan passes Livingstone airstrip. The Great Moon. People mooning the train.

Meanwhile, down the track in the outback town of Elliott, locals had the chance to kick up their heels at the first Gay and Lesbian mardi gras.

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Set in the Elliott Hotel – essentially a tin shed with beer taps – it proved so popular that people from all over still head to the annual event, which is loud and proud.

The Elliott mardi gras parties go well into the night with plenty of entertainment.

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Darwin gained two new suburbs this year, Muirhead and Lyons, named after people important to the Larrakia Nation – former Supreme Court judge and Territory administrator James Henry Muirhead and member of the Black Watch Tommy Imabulg Lyons.