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Snappy 60th birthday to our most fun newspaper

Lucy Kippist

by Lucy Kippist

08 Feb 02:30pm

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Filed under: Crocodiles, Darwin, Nt News

56 comments

Life is far from dull in the Northern Territory. Or if it is, we’ll never know. And that’s all thanks to the awesome team at the NT News, the Darwin newspaper celebrating sixty years of printing the zaniest, craziest and downright weird stories most of us will ever read.

The editor of the NT News goes off to work in his best suit. Well it is hot in Darwin.

The Northern Territory has just one per cent of Australia’s population. That means celebrity, sports and major political stories are few and far between. So the NT News quite sensibly turns its attention to its huge backyard. And that backyard is filled to the brim with scary, bitey creatures.

These are the kind of stories that everyone wants to read, but most newspapers bury on about page 13. On the NT News, they’re fodder for the front page, and that’s the way their readers like it. The Punch loves it too. On the 60th birthday of Australia’s most fun paper, here’s our tribute to your fine journalistic skills. Keep up the top work.

July 22, 2010: Sometimes it pays to talk to the locals. This idiotic 40 year old male tourist, who was photographed swimming right in front of a crocodile trap at Koolpin Gorge, in Kakadu National Park must have had luck on his side. Just weeks before, a 3.5m “saltie” had been caught in exactly the same trap.

What, you mean this isn't the pool bar?

September 29, 2011: There are public displays of affection. And then there are public displays of affection. Who knows just what this couple were thinking as they erm, frolicked stark naked on a Darwin balcony. Plenty of people stopped by to watch them in action.

Does my bum look big in this balcony?

March 5, 2008: Here’s one fishing trip this man won’t ever forget. This “monster” croc, estimated at 4m long, came within inches of his fishing boat. “One minute I was leaning over the boat teasing it for a picture. The next minute it burst out of the water with incredible speed ... its jaws fully open,” he said.

There are two snappers hard at work in this pic

July 14, 2011: NT News photographer Katrina Bridgeford made international headlines with this amazing picture of “Brutus”. The 5.5m saltwater croc took it upon himself to give this boatload of tourists on the Adelaide River a moment they’ll never forget.

No, not there. Yeah, there. Just under my jaw. Ohhhh yeah, that's better.

September 30, 2011: They’re spooky and they’re kooky but as Jennifer Mills-Young found out, ghosts can also be horny. The Palmerston resident woke in the middle of the night to feel an invisible being “grabbing her by the wrist” and dragging her out of bed. “I thought, ‘Hmmm, hubby wants a bit of romance’, when I suddenly remembered he wasn’t even at home,” she said.

Wooing with wooooooooooo-ing

July 9, 2011: A sheepish Matthew Wall, age 19, admitted his mum gave him an “earbashing” after the photo he posted on Facebook of himself and a mate “planking” on a trapped 600kg croc made the front page of NT News. “I woke up with this sinking feeling”.

Can you believe there was an NT Govt-sponsored ad for the Croc-safe program at the bottom of the page? True story.

June 10, 2008: Enter the super toad! Despite being a hated species in the Territory since the 1950s, cane toads have “evolved” at an extremely fast pace. According to this report the slippery, slimy creatures can hop up to 2km in a single night and up to 50km a year.

By day, he's the mild-mannered amphibian Croc Kent

April 23, 2006: Brendon Alan Erhardt was speeding at 150km/ph down a Darwin road, while filming himself masturbating. Oh, and he also had 5kg of drugs in his boot. But he was granted bail due to his upcoming wedding. The lucky, lucky bride.

Darwin's theory of evolution doesn't apply in Darwin

Most commented

56 comments

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    • gman says:

      02:00pm | 08/02/12

      Nothing about the horny Roo?

      I love this paper. Cheers me up no end.

      Keep it up!

      Reply

    • Bertrand says:

      05:48pm | 08/02/12

      Horny roo??

      Gotta give it to the NT. For such a small population it gets its share of total weirdness and fruit loops.

      A mate of mine bought a second hand phone on E-Bay from some guy who lived in the NT. The guy hadn’t deleted the media content. We found a video he shot at a set of traffic lights in Darwin. Basically, him and his mates were waiting at the lights and spotted a nice looking woman. They started screaming lots of sexual comments at her, as you may expect.

      The next thing the woman pulls down her pants and masturbates herself with the beer bottle she was holding, all for the camera.

      I am not making this up. That’s the NT for you.

    • Debbie says:

      09:22pm | 08/02/12

      We love the NT News, its all of the best of the territory cobbled together in one place. My morning entertainment wouldn’t be the same without it, mind you its handy to have The Australian and News.Com website to get the real news!

    • dancan says:

      02:24pm | 08/02/12

      I have to admit to this guilty pleasure.  I always shake my head while reading a story and feel a little sadder for the human race, but I always have a smile on my face at the same time

      Reply

    • SimonFromLakemba says:

      02:33pm | 08/02/12

      lmao couldn’t stop laughing.

      You would have to wonder what tourists would think seeing that newspaper now that Darwin’s Airport is a fairly important gateway.

      Reply

    • David says:

      02:35pm | 08/02/12

      NT news is a politically biased piece of crap in my opinion. It does far more harm than good around here and the sooner it’s gone the better. The journos, if you could call them that, seem to be rejects from the South and, if they don’t vote conservative then they lose their jobs pretty quickly. Sure it may seem like a bit of fun to Southerners however the rubbish, biased reporting does no good at all in our quest to improve the Territory because it runs down everything that it doesn’t agree with. Believe it or no, there are people here that are working hard for the common good however, unless they are Liberals and how many of them are doing anything that doesn’t line their own pockets, you wont hear anything about the good stuff in the NT News.

      Reply

    • James1 says:

      03:12pm | 08/02/12

      You just can’t please some people.

    • TimB says:

      03:27pm | 08/02/12

      “if they don’t vote conservative then they lose their jobs pretty quickly”

      What, do their bosses sit in the voting booth with them to make surethey vote appropriately?

      You have to love the anti-News Ltd hysteria. It sends people on trips into crazy town like nothing else does. David, make sure you say hi to Mayor McBadger whilst you’re there.

    • Chris L says:

      03:42pm | 08/02/12

      Indeed, TimB, talk of media bias has been giving me a giggle ever since people blamed Howard’s loss on the papers.

    • SimonFromLakemba says:

      03:42pm | 08/02/12

      No different to the conservatives and The Age. All relative I guess.

    • Mayor McBadger says:

      03:46pm | 08/02/12

      Bollocks David.  Absolutely nothing conservative about those front pages ;P

    • Mayor McBadger says:

      03:48pm | 08/02/12

      Not surprised you missed the insinuation that to get along in the newsroom requires a certain shall we say political perspective.

      I’ve been in the newsroom (if you could call it that) many times and the level of racist right wing tirades about the aborigines and “ethnics” would astound you.

      You would be hard pressed to find another newsroom anywhere with the level of right wing vitriol present here.
      Being an alcoholic is a pre-requisite for employment and only the dregs from the other news ltd papers are shuffled off to die an alcoholics death here. In fact, I’m inclined to believe that this is the third and final step in the employee assistance program for drug and alcohol addicted reprobates from the greater news ltd community.

    • AdamC says:

      03:48pm | 08/02/12

      TimB, yeah, but it’s more fun when they are completely delusional.

    • M says:

      04:15pm | 08/02/12

      @Tim, have you ever read the Daily telegraph or the Sydney Morning Herald? Biased self serving reporting is every where in this country.

    • M says:

      04:16pm | 08/02/12

      @Tim, have you ever read the Daily telegraph or the Sydney Morning Herald? Biased self serving reporting is every where in this country.

    • sally says:

      04:38pm | 08/02/12

      Mayor McBadger (04:48pm comment), what a load of crap.
      You have clearly NEVER been in the NT News newsroom.
      Their staff would be the one of the youngest averaged-aged staff in the country. And, yes, I actually HAVE been in that newsroom many, many times.
      I’d say that for 95% of the journos and photographers, the NT News would be their first newspaper job and almost all of them are between 20 and 30 years old.
      There haven’t been any (traditionally older) sub-editors in the building for a couple of years now because all that work is now done in Adelaide.
      All of that detail (unlike your garbage) can be easily checked and verified.
      I can only think of one editorial staff member who worked at other News Ltd papers before, and that would be the editor.
      So your vitriol about “dregs from the other news ltd papers being shuffled off to die there” is clearly absolute tosh, just like the rest of your ridiculous comments are.
      I sense the Mayor is probably somebody who has featured prominently in the NT News and wasn’t at all happy about the result.
      Massive axe to grind, methinks.

    • Mayor McBadger says:

      05:16pm | 08/02/12

      Good to see you backed up your “facts” with links sally
      I’ve been there and I know what I’ve seen.

      my comment stands

    • TimB says:

      06:14pm | 08/02/12

      Ah yes. Sally needs links. But we have to take you at your word.

      Genius.

    • sally says:

      06:32pm | 08/02/12

      Huh, what links? My facts can be easily checked. All the journos and photographers are bylined. Your turn then. Put your money where your mouth is and tell us which ones are the old dregs that have come from other News Ltd papers then. Should be easy if you’re so knowledgable.

    • acotrel says:

      02:39am | 09/02/12

      @David
      I loved that movie ‘Red Dog’, it reminded me of all the places I never want to visit again. But you have to admit that ‘some things are so bad that they are good’ ? As far as the tourists are concerned - why do you think they come here ?  Would you visit the US without seeing the Grand Ole Oprey ?

    • Felix says:

      01:51pm | 09/02/12

      @Sally “’I’d say that for 95% of the journos and photographers, the NT News would be their first newspaper job and almost all of them are between 20 and 30 years old.”

      Ah, yes.  I’d say that the evidence for your claim is apparent in the quality of the product that is turned out wouldn’t you?

    • sally says:

      02:37pm | 08/02/12

      Best. Newspaper. Ever.
      That is all.

      Reply

    • troilus72 says:

      02:38pm | 16/03/12

      Sorry Sally I’ve lived all over OZ, worst newspaper ever, and I have a link to prove it.

    • Susan Bennett says:

      02:51pm | 08/02/12

      That’s it, I’m moving.  Beats the living bejesus out of the Melbourne Age, that’s for sure.  Although I’m a bit concerned that being dragged out of bed by one’s wrist constitutes “romance.”  If that’s the case, then the speeding masturbator surely was wearing his heart on his sleeve.

      Reply

    • Starsky says:

      02:52pm | 08/02/12

      Ha, David. Grumpy much? As a lifelong Darwinite, that is the first time I’ve ever heard the NT News described as conservative (and by conservative I mean right wing ... it sure aint the other sort of conservative). Most of it’s other detractors say it’s too left wing. I’m sure you’ll find they’ve supported Labor in their last half-dozen or so election eve editorials. So if everyone thinks it’s biased in both directions, ergo it must be perfectly unbiased, no? ps: Who cares what you think. I agree with everyone else. It should be declared a national treasure smile

      Reply

    • pashmina says:

      02:58pm | 08/02/12

      I’ve been told off by the NT News for being too vocal about their spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and just plain bad journalism…..keep talking like that on their facebook page and I’m banned!  What happened to freedom of speech?  Reading the NT News doesn’t help educate the younger generation - in our day, reading an exerpt from the newspaper was part of your homework…..unfortunately the tone of this paper makes it R rated for kids - no chance I’d want my children reading the innuendoes and double entendres…...if only we had a serious alternative….then the NT News could be the humourous joke that it is and we’d all be happy.

      Reply

    • 1trackmind says:

      03:35pm | 08/02/12

      “double entendres”

      Is that a device for french lesbians?

    • Bertrand says:

      08:40pm | 08/02/12

      In your end-o

    • I'm a lesbian says:

      08:03am | 09/02/12

      The above two are obviously Darwinites!

    • SLF says:

      03:22pm | 08/02/12

      ‘dinged by the artificial dong’ is the best bit of newspaper copy I have read in a long time.

      The NT News is great.

    • Susan Bennett says:

      03:31pm | 08/02/12

      Oh how could one possibly go past the headline “flying dong dings” - complete with a re-enactment of the post wang injury.

    • K says:

      03:15pm | 08/02/12

      The newspaper needs better grammar and editing overall. The article topics can be a laugh, but the quality is embarrassing.

      Reply

    • pashmina says:

      06:00pm | 08/02/12

      totally agree…...

    • TimB says:

      03:38pm | 08/02/12

      Remove the word ‘Horny’ and I think they can reuse that ghost headline for a story about Parliament smile .

      Reply

    • Claudia says:

      04:00pm | 08/02/12

      Dear Lucy you write “These are the kind of stories that everyone wants to read, but most newspapers bury on about page 13. On the NT News, they’re fodder for the front page, and that’s the way their readers like it. The Punch loves it too” How do you know that people in the NT like it, most of us think the NT news is a joke. Putting out rubbish front pages and ignoring real news storys, its actually the worst paper in the country.

      Reply

    • Starsky says:

      04:54pm | 08/02/12

      Most of us, Claudia? Speak for yourself. Circulation figures (the NT News has among the best per capita in the country when other papers are rapidly losing circulation) suggest you’re in a very small minority.

    • Sam Chowder says:

      04:02pm | 08/02/12

      Happy Birthday NT News - nut I remember thise stories with these headlines:
      Builder admits front gate error
      Clothing getting badly snagged prompts wicker chair recall
      Man uses Hakka to scare off crocodile
      Tourism body uses blue squares to indicate large size crocodiles
      Kevin cheats on widow
      Crocodile asks for day spa refund
      Toads now want golf club (membership)
      Male disproves multitasking myth

      Reply

    • Schartos says:

      04:29pm | 08/02/12

      If you take the NT News a bit too seriously, then I suggest you take life a bit too seriously. It is hands down the funniest, most entertaining paper in the country. I never pick up other States and Territories news papers - even the culinary sections are dull or depressing. If you cannot abide grammatical and/or spelling mistakes, perhaps you should be a school teacher, you know, nip the problem in the bud.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      04:32pm | 08/02/12

      I was in Koolpin Gorge in July 2008 and we all went swimming there.
      It could be that the croc traps are taken in there when the water is up and left there for the next season.
      Whats scarier though is that Crocs travel quite a ways inland and I was talking to a guy in Kunnunurra who had just finished working on a station east of the Argyle Dam and he said a property dam was full of them.

      Reply

    • Ian says:

      05:16pm | 08/02/12

      I’ve been going to Koolpin on an almost yearly basis since the 80’s. It was in about July 2010 that there were signs that the first big salties had entered Koolpin gorge, we were there at the same time, and for the first time ever, the rangers were saying, you can swim if you want to…. but I wouldn’t.  At the time we were there, there were biiiig drag marks 200m downstream from the main pool at the camp ground.  It’s part of the ever-increasing top end crocodile population, they’re expanding their territorial areas as the populaton (and competition for space) increases.  This all ties into the current local debate about a crocodile census and perhaps even licensed hunting.  But that’s another story.

    • Debbie says:

      05:38pm | 08/02/12

      Er you obviously don;t live in the territory, you never, ever go swimming at any time of year - there are 100,000+ crocs in the territory and only 200,000 people! The traps are there year round, and you would have to be a complete idiot to go anywhere near one.

      As to the NT News - an endless source of entertainment, sure not much news, but plenty of other papers for that. And the reason for the Crocs on the front page - they sell twice as many papers every time there is a croc on the font page!!

    • Gregg says:

      10:41pm | 08/02/12

      We walked way up the gorge from where you enter around from the camp ground and so OK if they have signs of them down lower it’d be a good idea to have the traps in.

      Higher up the water is well below the 30C that Crocs like to keep their bodies close to and there’d be a lot of rock hopping for them to go up there.
      The water isn’t anywhere near as cold as at Jim Jim but you’d reckon if Crocs are going to venture right up the gorge they could do likewise at Jim Jim and they’re already not so far away as they are or have been in the Twin Falls gorge where the first bit of access is by boat.

    • iansand says:

      04:41pm | 08/02/12

      Not enough crocodiles.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      10:11am | 09/02/12

      Bullshit.  Where do you think the LNP gets all its tears from ?

    • Ian says:

      04:55pm | 08/02/12

      Yeah, it’s all good for giggles, I’ve even put iPhone pictures of the broadsheet on my Flickr stream, but when it’s the ONLY newspaper you have, it’s can be frustrating and embarrassing.  The Australian, or Fin review (if that’s your thing) are air-freighted in a day later (if they don’t get bumped by the airline), and are charged at twice the price, which makes them less than useful.  Having said that, Darwin is still a great place to live and work, and raise a family.  If the quality of the local Murdoch tabloid rag is your yardstick for quality of life, then you’d better have a rethink.

      Reply

    • pashmina says:

      06:08pm | 08/02/12

      Like your comments Ian….sensible and useful…....unfortunately the NT News is the only thing we have and it can be very frustrating and extremely embarrasing. (thank goodness for news on the web)  Not bagging Darwin, we made the seachange to move here but we get sick of the parochial / narrow minded crap that gets bandied around.  Australia is a big country and the NT is part of it…....

    • Troilus72 says:

      02:43pm | 16/03/12

      Ian you are so right, Darwin is a great place to live and work. I would like to read the SMH but it arrives about 24 hours out of date and equals the cost of a long boozy lunch to buy it. Darwin is great, its just a shame the paper doesn’t reflect this

    • Happy Birthday ! says:

      05:19pm | 08/02/12

      I lived in Darwin for two years and the newspaper was a real highlight. I would send copies to my friends interstate to share the fun. The front page is always (1) a story, with a photo, about a big croc, (2) a story, with a photo, of a big barramundi or (3) occasionally a story about a car crash or something stupid that a driver was caught doing. The ‘real’ news (world financial crisis etc) usually emerges by about page 5…Great newspaper. Many happy returns to the NT News.

      (PS I just love that fact that 2012 is the Queen’s Jubilee year AND the NT News’ Jubiliee year!)

      Reply

    • CJB says:

      09:07pm | 08/02/12

      What about the headline in June this year “Bare arsed Bandit”
      Couldn’t stop reading this stuff. Wish the Daily Telegraph in NSW would follow the lead of the NT News
      Ya gotta love this stuff, makes you proud to be an Aussie and with a great sense of humor to boot!

      Reply

    • nathan says:

      12:20am | 09/02/12

      nobody said anything about the page 3 girls.

      Reply

    • Robinoz says:

      07:00am | 09/02/12

      Happy birthday to our NT News which of course is also the source for the local Centralian News at Alice Springs.

      We love our Territory and we love our newspapers. Even the Alice Springs News at http://alicespringsnews.com.au is full of excellent local chatter and now only available online.

      Reply

    • Tania says:

      08:40am | 09/02/12

      It’s a great newspaper if you want cut and paste articles from yesterdays web news, photos of local ‘socialites’ and Inpex. It’s the joke paper which gives the masses some fun but little real news. Can’t have people thinking too hard about things or we might get worried about our rosy future up here.

      Reply

    • Felix says:

      01:47pm | 09/02/12

      It’s a great newspaper for frippery and to entertain the locals. As a newspaper to inform and discuss, it’s hopeless; but I guess it never claims to be something it’s not.

      As long as The Australian is not available until after lunch, there is no hope for civilised breakfasts in Darwin. How hard can it be? Even Townsville prints The Australian these days.

      Reply

    • Cassandra says:

      11:13am | 10/02/12

      It’s a hoot.

      Well it’s not a broadsheet but it’s a lot of fun

      I loved the story on “how aliens seem to have snubbed the Darwin visit of US President Barack Obama in a possible protest over a recent White House denial of their very existence.”

      http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2011/11/18/273265_ntnews.html

      Reply

    • onlooker says:

      06:28am | 10/03/12

      It is shame all newspapers are not like that.

      Reply
 
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RT @HeatherSmithAU: Can living in another country change your life for the better? by @lucyjk on @newscomau f. moi http://t.co/E5Ma3kBut2

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@mooks83 sophisticated response. Think the kids parents saw it differently

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