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served as Mayor until 1959 and remained on the Council until 1963. He resigned when he was elected to the
Legislative Council, where he remained until 1968.
Lyons died in Darwin Hospital on 12 February 1970 after a long illness. His wife and children and four
grandchildren survived him. A requiem mass was conducted at the Catholic cathedral by Bishop J P O’Loughlin.
People from all walks of life came to pay their last respects to Lyons and senior students from Saint Mary’s
College formed a guard of honour outside the cathedral. Lyons was laid to rest in the cemetery at McMillans
Road. There were tributes paid to him at a special sitting of the Supreme Court and in the Legislative Council.
The Northern Territory News in an editorial, which mentioned the 1958 incident involving Lyons and Bowditch,
stated that he ‘was a man possessed of rare compassion for his fellows, enormous courage and a powerful sense
of humour.’
When, after a number of years in which there were no separate wards for the Darwin Council, wards were
reintroduced in 1971, a ward encompassing Port Darwin was named after Lyons. The Lyons home on the Esplanade,
which was sold in 1974, became a ‘heritage property’ owned by the Northern Territory Government. To many old
Darwinites it was still always referred to as ‘Lyons Cottage’.
A Heatley, A City Grows, 1986; Northern Territory News, 13 February 1970; family information from Mrs M Doherty (nee Lyons), Darwin.
EVE GIBSON, Vol 2.