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In 1932, Litchfield’s father died of malaria and his sister Betty was very upset so Litchfield took her way on
a holiday. They took six weeks to drive over the outback tracks to Adelaide. From there, they visited friends and
relatives in the eastern states before returning to Darwin.
Litchfield met Noel Healey on the return trip. Healey ferried supplies to outlying stations from the railhead at
Katherine. He employed Litchfield to drive his Leyland trucks for three Dry Seasons. The trip took Litchfield from
Katherine through to Wyndham and down to Mistake Creek, Ord River and then on to Inverway. On the return trip,
he would go through Wave Hill to Katherine, then on Larrimah, Nutwood Downs, OT Downs, Beetaloo, Dunmarra
and then back to Katherine again. He had many adventures. On one trip, he was changing a tyre when the wheel
fell on him, pinning both his hands for 14 hours before a passing truck driver came to his rescue. Another time he
was bogged for four days near Wave Hill. Once Dr Clyde Fenton flew past, and seeing the vehicle, landed his
aeroplane and arranged for Litchfield to get enough petrol to reach Katherine.
During the ‘wet’ in his first year with Healey Litchfield contracted to go with a drover taking 1 000 head
of cattle and 30 horses from Pigeon Hole near Wave Hill through Montijini, Newcastle Waters and Anthony’s
Lagoon to Boulia in Queensland. There were six men and a cook, Dan Delany. They covered about 16 kilometres
a day and took three months to do the trip. Another time he went as cook with a crew and 900 head of cattle for
a journey from Newcastle Waters through Lake Woods, Powell Creek, Renner Springs, Helen Springs, Banka
Banka and Churchill’s Head to Brunchilly. Another wet season he helped remove the anthills to make the runway
at Daly Waters Aerodrome. While there Litchfield picked up the nickname ‘Cannibal’ because he and a workmate
were resting in the shade of a tree when a small poisonous snake bit his mate on the ear. Since there was no sharp
implement handy, Litchfield decided to break the skin to release the poison by biting it. The fellow got such a
fright that he struggled and Litchfield accidentally took a piece off the ear. Once when a worker from Moline
Gold Mine out from Pine Creek was missing Litchfield went with the policeman and 20 other men to search for
him. The ground was waterlogged; too wet for a fire, so Litchfield cut the top off an anthill and with wood from
overhead, they were able to cook and enjoy their evening meal.
In 1936 while on holiday in Sydney Litchfield met Glad Burling. They became engaged and were married
on 24 April 1937 at Lane Cove. Litchfield took a four-year apprenticeship for diesel fitting at Leyland Motors in
Redfern, Sydney. Their first two children were born in Sydney.
In February 1941, Litchfield was offered a position managing a service station in Darwin. He and his family
returned to the Northern Territory by car. His wife was six months pregnant and the children were one and two
years old. The trip, over mostly dirt tracks via western New South Wales and South Australia and up through
Alice Springs in the height of summer, took six weeks, a tremendous feat for those days. They passed many
military vehicles on the road north of Alice Springs as well as road builders and because of the heavy wet season
could not get any further north than Daly Waters. In early April Litchfield put his wife and children on an aeroplane
to Darwin and sat out the floods before continuing the journey. Glad stayed with Litchfield’s sister, Betty, and after
he arrived, the family moved to a rented house near the Daly Street Bridge. Their third child was born six weeks
later. On 21 December 1941, Glad and the children were evacuated back to Sydney because of the impending
danger in Darwin. Litchfield was directed into the railways for the duration of the war. His wife and three children,
with only hand luggage, left on Zealandia. For two years, Litchfield worked between Darwin and Katherine on the
railways. He was in Adelaide River when Darwin was attacked but on several occasions was in town during raids,
once sheltering under the railway carriages during the bombing.
Litchfield’s wife and family returned to the Territory in 1944 and spent two years in Pine Creek along with
thousands of troops and other returnees. They lived in a tin shed as people took whatever they could find for
shelter. Their fourth child was born in 1945. Eventually early in 1946 Darwin was declared safe so Litchfield and
others took their families back to try to start life over again. The town was a mess, with barbed wire and paper
scattered all over the place, and bomb wrecked buildings everywhere. It was hard finding everything that had
been left behind destroyed; even the family car had been burned. After three attempts a dwelling was found for
the family: a three-roomed corrugated iron bullet holed building in Stuart Park. One room only had mesh for part
of the walls.
Litchfield started a partnership with his next-door neighbour, Jimmy Stanton. They brought Army surplus
diesel trucks and started a carrying business. They moved many army surplus goods first and later carted peanuts
from the Daly River and produce from Katherine as well as further afield. Litchfield was well known for his
courtesy and willingness to help others, especially those in trouble. He could fix anything with almost anything.
In 1948, surplus tomatoes from farmers in Katherine needed disposal, so Litchfield’s wife started selling them to
the Army, Navy and Air Force. Later other green grocer items were added and soon they had a thriving business.
They sold out in 1954.
Litchfield managed the Banyan Agricultural Farm bear Batchelor from 1954 until 1957 and in 1957 became
a leading hand in the vehicle workshop at Rum Jungle, Australia’s first uranium mine. He became a foreman and
was a traffic officer when the mine closed down in 1971. During his spare time, mostly on weekends, Litchfield
delighted in taking town people and visitors out bush fishing, crocodile hunting and buffalo sighting. He was
famous for his Barramundi fishing and at times held a commercial fishing licence. But his main claim to fame was
the fact that the crocodile Sweetheart, which became a problem at the Finniss River, had attacked him and his boat.
In attempting to catch and move the crocodile, it drowned, so was preserved and is now in the Northern Territory
Museum at Bullocky Point in Darwin.
Litchfield became involved in the Scouting movement, becoming District Scout Master. He was later also
involved in the Saint John Ambulance. He assisted for three days in the clean up of Darwin following Cyclone
Tracy in December 1974. He was at various times President of the Rum Jungle Recreation Club and on the