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Mayali tribe. Before Spider’s birth, his parents had moved from Arnhem Land to Maranboy where his father
sought work.
Spider grew up in an area that was to become a small but thriving tin mining community. Spider had four
wives and eight children. Minnie and Dolly were the better known of his wives and many of his children, upon
reaching adulthood, moved to town centres where they assumed positions in the work force. Others such as Max,
who was one of the Bagot community leaders for a number of years, have helped to attain rights for Aborigines in
the European dominated centres.
Spider is remembered for his contribution of good leadership in his community and for his skills as an artist.
In the later part of his life, arts and crafts councils all over Australia sought his artefacts and paintings and he
received the constant support of Mrs Dorothy Bennett, who was seen as an expert in this field.
Spider is also remembered for his connections with ‘Tiger’ Brennan, who later became a well-known political
figure. Tiger had been one of the first prospectors for tin in the Maranboy area and his early ventures were in the
company of Spider and his son Max. According to Minnie, Spider’s second wife, the quest for new mining sites
took the three men as far east as Cairns and as far west as Port Keats. They also made a trip to Indonesia for what
Minnie believes was a search for oil. Spider is credited with having found new mines in the Jim Jim area, although
there is no record of a date for this discovery.
In the latter part of his life after his mining adventures were over, Spider worked as a cook in the old community
kitchen at Bulman River and as a gardener at the pre-school. He was never idle and continued to be a leader who
held the respect of the younger members of his tribe. In his latter years, he became a Christian.
Murranga, September, 1977; Biographical Index Files, AIAS, Canberra.
ROBYN MAYNARD, Vol 1.NICHOL, (TERESA) MERYL: see SLADE, (TERESA) MERYLNICHOLS, JOSEPH WESLEY (1890–1968), public servant, was born in Brunswick, Victoria, on 4 April 1890.
His father, Thomas Nichols, a Baptist minister from Devonport in England, married Betsy Alice Yates of Tarnagulla,
Victoria, on 2 May 1888. Joseph was their second child. A daughter, Emily, died in infancy. Joseph Nichols served
with the Light Horse infantry during the First World War. In 1925, he joined the Commonwealth Public Service.
On 2 May 1925, Nichols arrived in Darwin and commenced duties as Police Clerk of the Courts. His wife,
Ruby Veretta Nichols, nee Gidding, and their three sons, Lindsey Gordon, Thomas Spurgeon and Robert Stanley,
later joined him. The Nichols family lived in a house on Myilly Point.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Nichols was responsible for an array of duties associated with the legal administration
of the Northern Territory, at one stage having 28 statutory or official roles to fill. After 1933 his appointments
included Clerk and Bailiff to the Local Court, Clerk of the Supreme Court, Registrar of Bankruptcy, Registrar
General, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Sheriff Marshal of the High Court, Assistant Marshal of the
High Court of Australia, Librarian of the Supreme Court Library, and Returning Officer of the Northern Territory.
Amongst the sobriquets applied to Nichols were the ‘legal Poo-Bah of the Northern Territory’ and ‘Lord-High-
Everything-Else of the Law Courts’. The situation could have been chaotic at times if it had not been for Nichols’
extraordinarily tidy mind. It is said of him, that in order to keep records straight, he often had to write letters to
himself in one capacity or another, and then frame suitable replies reflecting the official view of another of his
appointed positions.
One of Nichols’ tasks during the early part of his career was to accompany Justice Mallam on a Court circuit
that covered the whole of the Northern Territory. At the time the travelling was undertaken by car, and the judicial
party often had to cope with the problems of becoming bogged, or cut off by flood-waters, during the wet season.
Nichols was later appointed a Special Magistrate, and during the 1940s he and Stipendiary Magistrate Crang
covered many thousands of miles by car and air, and heard several thousand cases. In his capacity as Special
Magistrate, Nichols tempered the law with a generous leavening of humanity and understanding, always seeking
the underlying causes for the crimes of the offenders that appeared before him. He often concluded matters with a
homily to the accused on the error of his ways, and the words ‘I don’t want to see you here again’.
When the women, children and non-essential civilians were evacuated from Darwin in 1941 due to fears of
Japanese invasion, Ruby Nichols went south. Nichols remained in Darwin and, when the first Japanese bombs
rained down on Darwin in February 1942, he took on himself the responsibility of protecting the valuable collection
of books housed in the Supreme Court Library. He also took care of the Court records, the loss of which would
have been a serious setback to legal administration in the Territory. Loading the books and records onto a truck, he
took them south to the police Station at Pine Creek, where they were stored in safety until the end of the war.
Nichols served under Justices Roberts, Mallam and Wells during his career. When he celebrated the
anniversary of his 25th year of service in the Northern Territory the Northern Standard of 28 April 1950 carried
a special feature on Nichols, praising his service to the Law Courts and the community, and mentioning the fact
that Nichols was renowned for his capacity for hard work which ‘he seems to absorb like a sponge absorbs water!’
Commenting in honour of the occasion, Mr Justice Wells said that: ‘I have never known a man to work like him.
Nothing is ever a trouble to him and he has always been of the greatest assistance not only to me but to anyone
who sought his help’.
Nichols retired in 1955 and moved from Darwin to Alice Springs. As the Nichols were keen musicians,
Nichols played the cornet and his wife the piano, they may have hoped for time to pursue their love of music.
However, shortly after arriving in Alice Springs Nichols was asked if he would operate a post office from his home