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own role. Elsey remained with her until after she returned to Alice Springs, being outfitted in the fashions of the
day in Adelaide and Melbourne.
The Abbotts left Darwin in May 1946, eventually retiring to Bowral, New South Wales. In 1948 Hilda published
a children’s book Among the Hills. She also resumed her travels. In 1947 and 1948 she was in Africa, filming there
for the Australian Museum in Sydney. She travelled to the Kimberleys in Western Australia during 1950 as part of a
scientific exhibition, making films of Aboriginal cave paintings. She journeyed to the Roper River in 1951, Darwin
and Arnhem Land in 1952, Europe in 1955, where she lectured on Australia, Central Australia in 1959 and 1961,
Asia and Europe in 1964 and 1965 and East and Southeast Asia in 1966. During the 1950s she became well known
as a broadcaster and her work as a designer included a commission to redecorate the bedrooms of the Wentworth
Hotel in Sydney. There is some evidence that late in life she was concerned that the opening of wartime archives
for public inspection could provide additional material for critics of her conduct and that of her husband in the
aftermath of the Japanese air attack on Darwin. She died, survived by a daughter, on 26 May 1984 in Bowral and
was buried with Roman Catholic rites in South Head Cemetery, Sydney.
Hilda had great physical charm. A close friend, Lady (Maie) Casey, frequently referred to her beautiful green
eyes. She and her husband shared a strong sense of superiority over most other Territory residents that made them
both unpopular. Yet her energetic work for the Red Cross, actions in the aftermath of the air raid on Darwin and
deep interest in the Territory which continued long after 1946 showed her in a much more positive light. Her many
writings, that present a vivid picture of certain aspects of Territory life, are a most valuable legacy.
B James, No Man’s Land, 1989; Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February 1972; Abbott Papers, National Library of Australia; H de Berg, Hilda
Abbott (taped interview), National Library of Australia.
PETER ELDER, BARBARA JAMES and DAVID CARMENT, Vol 2.
ADAMS, COLIN FRANCIS (1910– ), mining engineer and public servant, was born on 10 January 1910 at
Adelaide. He was educated at Brompton State School, Queens School and St Peters College, Adelaide. He graduated
from the School of Mines, University of Adelaide. In 1938 he married Dorothy Helen Stephen and there are
three children, Christine, Sue and John. Prior to graduation Adams obtained the required working experience at
Mt Lyell, Mt Isa and Broken Hill. During 1931 he took a year off study and worked at the Golden Dyke mine not
far from Grove Hill. This was shortly after Bill Lucy (see Alf Colley) built the Grove Hill pub out of old railway
lines and galvanised iron. It is virtually unchanged to this day. He also had an official appointment as the part-time
Postmaster at Grove Hill. The period there gave Adams a love for the Territory and in his words ‘I promised myself
if ever I can do any good for this place, I’ll come back’.
After graduation, Adams worked in Western Australia. He was at Wiluna ‘on the shovel’, managed the Galena
mine at Northhampton and then in 1939 was appointed Inspector of Mines based at Cue, in charge of an area as far
north as Port Hedland and Marble Bar, across to the Northern Territory border and south to Northhampton. Travel
was by vehicle over rough roads. Once a stub axle broke and the wheel fell off, a nearby station’s blacksmith’s
shop was borrowed to fix it. In 1950 he was appointed Superintendent of State Batteries with headquarters in Perth
and 20 batteries to supervise spread all over Western Australia. Of this he said that batteries are good politics but
bad economics.
In 1955 Adams was appointed Director of Mines, Northern Territory. On arrival in Darwin he found the Mines
Branch located in a tin shed with holes in the roof and a staff comprising a Chief Clerk, two Mining Registrars,
three inspectors and five others, no diamond drills, several defunct batteries and one geologist owned by the Bureau
of Mineral Resources. After reading all the files of importance, ably selected by Arthur Scott, it was clear to Adams
that the existing Mines Branch was little more than a figurehead. Of this, he told a Public Accounts Committee
in 1958 in answer to the question ‘How did you find the Mines organisation when you arrived?’ ‘Not very good’.
‘Not in first-class order?’ ‘Not in first-class order’, replied Adams.
The Northern Territory to which Adams returned was in a state of depression with Darwin still showing the
effects of wartime bombing and post-war neglect. A year or so later Adams told me that to rebuild the prestige of
the Mines Branch he had to do three things—fix the batteries, find a water supply for Tennant Creek and find a
mine. An early request from the Administrator, F J S Wise, was to do something about the batteries. This resulted
in rebuilding the Tennant Creek battery and construction of the Mt Wells battery over the next several years.
Apart from treating prospectors’ ores the Tennant Creek battery was used to prove the metallurgy of a complex
ore-body that the Peko group had at Orlando mine. This was a joint effort and enabled Peko to design a milling
circuit for the ore.
During Adams’ period as Director of Mines he built the Branch into a respected and competent organisation
which included the establishment of a diamond drill section (and this located the Frances Creek iron ore mine),
a well-equipped laboratory including an atomic absorption spectrograph, a full mines inspectorate including
electrical inspections and a machinery inspection section. Of this Adams said that when he arrived he found an
Ordinance but no inspectors. Each Darwin Show Day he would solemnly inspect the merry-go-round and charge
10 shillings. This was the total extent of machinery inspection. The section was established and the Ordinance
amended to require operators to be qualified; likewise an Ordinance was made to regulate the storage and use of
explosives. The geological section was expanded but still remained under the control of the Bureau of Mineral
Resources, mainly due to Canberra bureaucratic jealousies.
Shortly after Adams’ arrival in Darwin he was informed by D R M (Deric) Thompson, Clerk of the Legislative
Council, ‘Of course, Mr Adams, you’ll be on the Legislative Council’, to which Adams responded ‘What Council?’
He went on to say that he didn’t claim to be a politician and knew very little about politics. Thompson said,