Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For the past 40 years, Professor Alan Powell recorded the Northern Territory's history in a series of books, articles, biographical entries and reviews. Professor Powell was one of the Northern Territory's most prolific historians. In 1982, Professor Powell, who, sadly, passed away last month, published the classic short story of the Northern Territory, Far Country. In the revised fifth edition of Far Country, he wrote:

The Territory is still overshadowed by the legacy of its past; a land of miners and cattlemen scattered thinly over vast areas of desert and savannah, of a single city clinging to the northern littoral and another 1,500 kilometres away in the middle of Australia; of scattered settlements and the overarching, brooding presence of the people whose ancestors imbued the land with their spirit 40,000 years before Western civilisations began, for here alone, at more than 30 per cent of the Territory population, do they form a major political, social and economic force. The Northern Territory is still a far country.

Professor Powell was born in New Zealand, growing up on a sheep farm near Rotorua, where he developed a strong distaste for eating lamb and mutton. After attending Rotorua high school, he spent much of the following two decades holding a variety of jobs in both New Zealand and Australia. These included timber felling, bush surveying, truck driving, factory work, small business and school teaching. In 1974, he applied for and was appointed to a lectureship at the newly established Darwin Community College.

Like so many Territorians, he came for a couple of years, fell in love with the place and never left. In 2005, Alan recalled that, when he applied for the Darwin Community College job, he expected to be in the NT for just a year or two before returning to Melbourne. 'Darwin,' he observed, 'would have been about my last residential choice within Australia. Old story—I’m still here 30 years later!' He went on to say that he had found in Darwin good friends, a great research field and satisfying professional opportunities. The Territory is very lucky that he stayed. Over the next quarter of a century, Professor Powell also worked at the Darwin Institute of Technology, the University College of the Northern Territory, and Northern Territory University, which is now Charles Darwin University. He wrote many books and held many positions across the community, and, like most academics, he held a secret passion, but, unlike most academics, his was motorcycling. As a young man, he rode and raced motorbikes in New Zealand. He loved racing and his kids took up that passion too.

Professor Powell is survived by his wife, Jan Moore, his three children, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. He made a fantastic contribution to the NT, and I'll personally miss his conversations. Vale. (Time expired)