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A Better Place to Live by Diana Giese; Freshwater Bay Press, 2009, $22.95.

This little book reminds me of one of those tiny electric torches, no bigger than a walnut; women often carry one attached to their handbag, and men to their key-ring. Small, yes, but they cast a brilliant light into a dark corner. Diana Giese, in plain language and from much personal knowledge, describes the heroic quarter-century of the Northern Territory’s effort to remake itself, following its total ruination during the Second World War.

Darwin’s harbour was clogged by the wrecks of sixty-four ships sunk by Japanese air raids; services such as electricity and water had ceased. Of the buildings not actually wrecked, few had escaped damage. The re-gathering population, old-timers and new-chums alike, often had to squat in some semi-ruin, and share it with the owls, possums and snakes.

It is nowadays hard to keep one’s mind off alcohol. […]