Cabinet documents unveil a treasure trove of memories

The decisions our politicians made in secret 30 years ago have been released and they provide a fascinating snapshot into the issues of the time that seemed a lot less complicated.

THE release of the 1991 NT Cabinet records lifts the lid on a year that brought us grunge music, the World Wide Web and the first Gulf War.

Marshall Perron was Chief Minister, Paul Keating became Prime Minister, our new Parliament House was under construction and the first ever Arafura Games were held.

In June, Darwin FM radio station Hot 100 hit the airwaves, two days after the Strehlow Research Centre dedicated to the ceremonial life of the Arrernte people had opened in Alice Springs.

Kings Canyon Resort between Uluru and Alice Springs opened in October and one of the first structures in the State Square project, the Supreme Court, was officially opened in November by Administrator James Muirhead.

Prime Minister Paul Keating in Darwin.

Thirty years later and State Square’s still under construction. In June the first Bougainvillea Festival – precursor to the Darwin Festival – provided a massive boost to Top End arts and at the bottom end, the Hookers and Deviants Ball was popular. In December, Con the Fruiterer came to Darwin for the opening of the new airport with not one, not two, not three but four fully functioning aerobridges and nearby at Parap Pub, Jaffa was making the best steak in town.

Parap Pub, Chef Jaffa and staff 29/10/1991

In September, East Arnhem rock band Yothu Yindi released Tribal Voice, its second album, which included the global hit song Treaty. In similar company Nirvana released Nevermind, Red Hot Chilli Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury died.

On television we watched Will Smith for the first time in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Australia was told to not have a cow when Ten first screened The Simpsons and Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins won Oscars for the serial killer classic Silence of the Lambs.

With Warren Anderson building the Territory a new one, Parliament House was the old Chan Building, still lamented by some as an integral step in the Territory’s quest for self-government and statehood. With an eye on the 50th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin the following year, the Territory Cabinet approved funding for a Military History Heritage Site and Trails Program with $976,000 committed in 1991-92, $180,000 the following year and $40,000 in the next.

Hookers Ball Donna Hall, Louise Manning and Manda Locke ready to party.

State square construction.

One of the typed Cabinet notes advised: “Most sites are within 7km of the Stuart Highway and are accessible by conventional drive vehicle for 99 per cent of the year enabling easy access by interested visitors”. “The oil storage tunnels under Darwin provide a unique and exciting opportunity for a self-guiding display commemorating the bombing and destruction of Darwin in February 1942”.

The Cabinet submission to approve the Northern Territory University master plan, which mapped the development of the Casuarina campus, notes the $13.2m committed by the Commonwealth was not enough.

Cabinet approved the HomeNorth scheme in 1991 described as a first home ownership low interest scheme.