22 NEWS
SATURDAY MARCH 7 2015
Last round to farewell a legend
JACKIE HARGREAVES
OBITUARY
J
ACKIE Hargreaves arrived in Darwin at Christmas time in 1959.
She was surely one of the best
Christmas presents the city
ever got.
Ever since her arrival, Jackie has been a legendary figure
in the Top End’s hospitality
and tourism industries. Thousands of people who enjoyed
her hospitality will shed a
warm tear at the news that
Jackie died on February 18.
Jackie was 30 years old in
1959, a trainee nurse in Wollongong and married to Bill
Hargreaves who worked at the
steel mill. Bill got a job as a rigger on the new Darwin Stokes
Hill powerhouse construction
project and Jackie came north
with him. Jackie embraced
Darwin and the raffish town
embraced her.
Within a few weeks of arrival she was pulling beers at
the Victoria Hotel for the Lim
family. Alec Fong Lim always
claimed it was his training that
made Jackie into the best barmaid in the Territory. Before
long, Alec had promoted Jackie from the public bar to work
in the more classy Carlton Bar,
patronised by Darwin’s business movers and shakers.
After about five years, the
Lims had sold the Vic and
Jackie wanted a change of
scenery. She moved to work at
the Hotel Darwin’s illustrious
Hot and Cold bar. “It was a
great place to work,” Jackie
said later. “I got more in tips
than I got in wages and I saved
all those tips and that was my
bank when I went into business for myself.”
Then Jackie moved to the
RSL club, where she later
opened the Razzle restaurant
on her own account. She
Tears are being shed for a Territory icon who began as a barmaid
and ended up carving a formidable business and tourism path and
pioneering women’s issues, write PETER and SHEILA FORREST
FROM LEFT: Libby, Sharna
Edwards, Jackie Hargreaves and
Laura Seymon share yarns and
cake at The Frontier Services
celebration of International
Women’s Day; Jackie working
hard as a barmaid until her
later years; and outside her
Rum Jungle Motor Inn in
Batchelor
helped out Ningle Haritos in
his fruit and vegetable business
before she branched out on her
own and opened Jackie’s Fruit
Supply, in Nightcliff.
Almost from the beginning
of her time in Darwin she had
taken up an expensive
hobby – horse racing.
Jackie owned and trained
her own horses and at one
time had up to seven in
work at Fannie Bay. She
proudly recalled that once she
had owned and trained the first
four horses in a race – “but
they were the only horses in
the event,” she admitted.
The horses needed to be fed
so Jackie got the bright idea of
buying a farm to grow her own
feed. The Lims had taken her
down to the Daly River area
for picnics, she liked the lo-
cality and bought a farm on the
west side of the river. It was an
unrelenting and ultimately unsuccessful struggle to make
money and Jackie finally sold
out in 1972.
By this time, Jackie and Bill
cett. One day, Myrtle suggested that Jackie and Laurie
should buy the hotel. “Good
idea,” said Jackie. She and Laurie took over at Adelaide River
on November 15, 1973.
It was a good idea, a very
‘I got more in tips than I got in wages and I
saved all those tips and that was my bank
when I went into business for myself”
had parted company. Down on
the farm, Jackie had met Laurie McIntosh who used to
come down from Darwin to
service farm machinery.
On her travels between
Darwin and the Daly, Jackie
had discovered the Adelaide
River Hotel. She became very
fond of the place and of its
long-time owner, Myrtle Faw-
good one. Before long, the Adelaide River pub was the most
vibrant place anywhere on the
track from Darwin to Alice
Springs.
It was full of Territory
character and characters. Bull
catchers and buffalo hunters
jostled with miners, roadworkers, farmers and tourists to
enjoy one of Jackie’s cold ones.
Hers was always an orderly
house, she had the rare ability
of being able to encourage
everyone to enjoy themselves
without letting boisterous good
humour get out of control.
Jackie and Laurie had taken
over a basic and rundown bush
hotel with a rough concrete
floor and five guest rooms.
They bought accommodation
barracks from closed-down
mines at Pine Creek and Frances Creek and converted the
buildings into 27 self-contained motel units. They also
added a caravan park and a
petrol station. The hotel’s beer
garden became a cool, shaded
and peaceful watering hole –
almost a compulsory stopping
place.
From the mid-1980s the
Northern Territory govern-
ment began developing what
became Litchfield Park into a
major tourist destination to
rival Kakadu. Batchelor town
was identified as the strategic
point of access to the new park.
Jackie saw an opportunity
there.
She and Laurie bought
5.2ha of land on which to develop a hotel/motel which
would be a resort and destination in its own right. “The
flashest pub in the scrub,” was
Jackie’s dream.
It probably was when it
opened on April 1, 1988. Jackie
and Laurie had a hard slog to
develop the Rum Jungle
Motor Inn and then make it
pay but eventually it became a
very viable business. Jackie
and Laurie sold out in 2000,
Jackie reckoned that she had
turned 70 and had done
enough of the hard yards.
But she didn’t ease up on
her contributions to the Territory community. For many
years she had put a lot into
tourism, through the Darwin
Regional Tourist Promotion
Association, the Batchelor/Adelaide River Tourist Development Association and Tourism
Top End.
She was a powerful force
too within the Country Liberal
Party, representing the Victoria River Branch and as a member of the party’s central
council. She was a founder of
the Zonta Club in Darwin and
three times president of the organisation which seeks to empower women by achievement
and example.
Now she has gone. She will
be remembered and missed in
many places. Her achievements and good qualities were
many, not least her generous
spirit and her ability to help
people enjoy life.
Wherever she was, there
was also brightness, laughter
and goodwill.
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS
Reserve your seat at a DHA investment seminar
Tuesday 10 March, 6.00pm
Novotel, Darwin
Are you considering investing in property?
Come along to a Defence Housing Australia (DHA) investment seminar to
learn about the benefts of investing in DHA property—a long-term lease,
guaranteed rental income and no tenanting obligations.
Seats are limited and bookings are essential. For more information
or to reserve your seat:
CALL 139 342 VISIT dha.gov.au
Free opportunity to advertise your
jobs at Worker Attraction Expos
The Northern Territory Government will be promoting the
Northern Territory as a key destination to live and work at
upcoming international and national job expos.
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vacancies to be promoted as part of the Northern Territory
Government information stand. This is an opportunity to source
new interstate and international talent for your business.
2015 Expo Dates:
Melbourne 18 April
Dublin 21-22 March
Brisbane 16 May
Cork
25 March
Perth
6 June
Warsaw 28-29 March
Employers should submit new vacancies a minimum of 5
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more or to register your job vacancies phone 1800 006 282,
email [email protected] or visit www.dob.nt.gov.au
www.dob.nt.gov.au
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