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Lameroo Beach 1973

by Robert
(Victoria)

Baths -1922 (Supplied: William Coleman, Northern Territory Archive Service.)

Lameroo Beach 2021

bbq in a shopping trolly - some things don't change much

The view to the CBD no doubt has changed.

My mate & I hitchhiked to Darwin mid 1973 and found THE place to stay was Lameroo Beach.

Camping was free (tho not according to the town council!), the toilets and showers in the park up top were adequate, the Zoo Bar was within staggerable distance, and the amazing variety of people from all over the world absolutely amazing!

We set up a nice terrace campsite and had a terrific time swimming and socialising and trading stories of the overland route with so many hippies who had found their way there.

There was also an extremely eclectic mix of Aussies, ranging from dropped out real estate agents, young runaways, hitchhikers like ourselves, blackfellas from NT and elsewhere and old ockers who had been there apparently since the end of the ww2.

The 70's truly was a great time of awakening for all of Oz and for my mate and myself in particular.

Quite surprising that there are no stories here about this legendary location.

Anyone??

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Photos of people in Darwin?
by: Melissa

Hi all. I have just been reading these posts about hippie Darwin with interest. Does anyone have photos they would be prepared to share? I am an historian writing a social history of Australian fashion in the 20thC - especially focused on menswear.

I would love to see photos and to interview anyone about what they wore (sarongs, swimmers, jeans, nothing, anything). My email is melissabellanta@hotmail.com and no. is 0466726501.

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Living in 1973
by: Anomarilynnymous

I started living on lameroo beach after i broke both elbows in a bike crash, my land lord thought he had a novel idea on how i could pay my rent,ugh a group of hippies that i had met in passing in pubs too me under their wings, fed me dressed me and even wiped my bum. I slept in a lean to halh way up a cliff at first then when my arms got better i built a 2 room shack out of tarps and insulation foil,after i got employment not one of them came to me and aked to be compensted for their time and food,
I worked and saved up then left after about 6months , hitched hike as far as Alice then worked some more in Alice and caught the Ghan to Adelaide, hitch hiked to melbourne , i arrived in Tasmania 4 months before tracy hit, now with my family gone i am planning to return for a holiday next year and do the full ghan experience

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Those were the days
by: Hank

Darwin was the last place on earth, full of characters and people hiding from the law and the ideal place for the Hippy revolution because nobody cared.
We used to sit outside the 24 hour cafe run by two gay guy's who took jars of pep pills and were always there no matter what time. Brian got a job there but told the hippy's they were pousers.and quit.
Just across the street from all the offices where the government workers worked. They used to come over and talk to us and bring sandwiches from their after work party's, everyone got on.
Warm nights and great times before the cyclone.

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Lameroo Beach in the 90's
by: Ashley

I hope it will please you to hear that between 1993 and 1997 I also hitchhiked from Perth, the first time as a 16 year old then a second time about 2 years later and found my way to Lameroo beach where there was a small group of various backgrounds, mostly Aussies, some of questionable backgrounds but we were all looking out for each other and in a small way continuing that same spirit of the 1970s. In a dark period of my life my time at Lameroo was a highlight that I still look back on with a smile

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Kiwis before tracy
by: Anonymous

Left Darwin for Cairns just before Tracy hit Often wonder what happened to all the hippies living at Lameroo. Were they all blown away ? I drove my caravan down the track with two kiwi friends I worked with in Darwin to Cairns My other kiwi friend stayed at Berrimah and rode out the storm Kiwi Keith

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Lameroo Saga cont...
by: Freaky Geoff

Thx for the pics Jim and just to add a little about the council removals, I remember one failed attempt. They actually paid a heap of guys to force us off 'en masse', but we knew a lot of them, and a few who lived on the beach too; so, their heart just wasn't in it and we won that confrontation.

The next time the council came down with police. Well, that was it, though Murray and myself wouldn't budge and were physically carried up the cliff and into a paddy wagon. We spent the night in the cells, but were released the next day.

The last time, as Kate has touched on, we did have permission to live on the section controlled by the Naval Base, but the council got their way. Their was Murray, Kate, myself and three other people. Sorry, I just can't remember your names. But this time, we left voluntarily and our homes were torn down.

Once, strong winds buffeted the coast, and since our tree house was built off the ground in a banyan tree, we were flung to and fro by the howling vortex. A couple had their house directly below us and were worried that we would come crashing down on them, especially during the night. We all survived the storm, but not the council...cont.

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Lameroo Beach in 2021
by: Jim

I had some time to kill so I took some photos.
The concrete pathway still leads down to where the original wooden baths were.

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Lameroo saga
by: Freaky Geoff

Well, it seems to me that certain details regarding Lameroo Beach's chronology is amiss, in my opinion. I've read some comments (not on this site) that are slightly askew. Which makes me think of our general history and whether it's really accurate.

Ok, there were two expulsions from the beach by council, in 73 and 74 respectfully: one, from Lameroo proper, both sandy and rocky sections and the second, from the section controlled by the 'Coonawarra Navel Base', which was further south.

To be continued...

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House O.T.R.Sun
by: Freaky Geoff

Well, I remember that house, but it was of the setting sun. From what you've said, that was the sandy Lameroo beach. I lived a little further south, along the rocky foreshore, where we built houses out of giant bamboo that grew there and orange industrial plastic we flogged from the building sites...

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Hi Kate
by: Geoff (freaky Geoff)

I checked out this site and read your comments. Of course, you have to be the Kate I knew, as it all fits. You told me you used to be a leg model and had learnt Judo. Yes, we were turfed out of the best ever tree house early 1974, and with a rap-door entrance in the floor. Well, the decades have passed; I hope they have been kind to you.

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I was here
by: Kate aka gypsie queen

Hi I was one of last half dozen forcibly removed.
I is sang blues all day
Remember Clarinet Dave ?? Are you out there.
I was severely burnt in our tree house when cooker exploded.
One of your original okers was murder up the stepd .
Cheers
Kate

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Pre Tracy Lameroo
by: Anonymous

Hey Hank and anon - I love all your memories but wonder if you really were there considering you CAN actually recall details!

Further.....the original Roma Bar in Stuart Park was always good for coffee and Eddie Fong's snooker room in the little lane off Smith St was one to never forget.....his risogulu always cool and tasty and usually a game for $20 or more going on between Eddie and his bookie mates who had betting shops in that same lane.

What a time to be alive....RIP Gough & JIm Cairns

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more Lameroo Beach 1973
by: Anonymous

Yea Hank!
at last someone has scraped together some memory to recall that incredible time!
JC and Bob were two of the outstanding characters...also Santos, Bobby Magic and other prawners and so many others at the Zoo bar including journos from NT news.
The Circus was always good for a party and more and if you could make it to Fannie Bay, the dear departed FB pub and Dutch Peter's joint near the jail were usually rockin.

A time so cool, hard to imagine how miserable we, as a country, have become in the years since.
Where is the spirit of Gough when we need it so much??

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Before The Cyclone
by: Hank

I was in Darwin in 73.The place was like the moon. Completely different. J C could be seen walking around town in his sarong followed by about five dogs with colorful names like acid and zombie.
The place was Hippy central. About 300 of us lived on Lameroo Beach in wooden shacks built in the mangrove tree's from leftovers scrounged from the building sites uptown.
The zoo bar was the regular meeting place unless you were sitting in 24hr square on the beach with 24hr Bob. JC's place was called The House Of The Rising Sun,just up the trail.

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