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affection for the people, the Jesuit missionaries were outstanding for their time, and in its openness toward the
local culture the Daly Mission stood in line with the great Jesuit Missions in China, Japan and Paraguay. At wit’s
end for lack of finance and deeply committed to the success of the mission, the kindly Strele refused to admit
failures that were obvious to others and he was firm in ordering his men to maintain agricultural ventures that were
patently unviable. As a Jesuit, his companions revered him and they did not disobey him. Strele’s significance lies
in his role of directing men and works influential for the moulding of Catholicism in South Australia, his position
as a great nineteenth-century Australian missiologist, and his pioneering work within the Catholic Church in the
Northern Territory.
Anton Strele, Historia Missionis ad Aborigines in Australie Parte qua vocatur Northern Territory MS, Jesuit Provincial Archives, Hawthorn,
Victoria; Records of the Austro-Hungarian Mission in the Northern Territory, Jesuit Provincial Archives, Hawthorn, Victoria; G J O’Kelly,
‘The Jesuit Mission Stations in the Northern Territory, 1882–1899’, BA (Hons) Thesis, 1967.
G J O’KELLY, Vol 1.STRETTON, ALAN BISHOP (1922– ), army officer and barrister, was born on 22 September 1922 in Elwood,
Victoria, the son of William John Stretton and his wife Elizabeth Ellen, nee Fitt. He was educated at Scotch
College, Melbourne, the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and, later in his career, the University of Queensland,
where he graduated Bachelor of Laws. He joined the Australian Imperial Force in 1940 as a Private and was
later commissioned. He saw active service in the Pacific during the Second World War, in the Korean War,
in the Malayan Emergency and in the Vietnam War, where he was Chief of Staff to the Australian force. He was
made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1956, an Officer of the Order (OBE) in 1966 and a
Commander in the Order (CBE) in 1970. In 1969, he was admitted to the bar. In 1974, as a Major General, he was
appointed as the first Director General of the Natural Disasters Organisation, an agency of the Commonwealth
government. He married Valda, daughter of W H Scattergood, in 1943 and they had one son and two daughters.
Stretton achieved national prominence following the destruction of much of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy on
25 December 1974. Arriving in the devastated city later that day, he immediately authorised a massive evacuation
that within six days resulted in 25 628 people being flown south. He also established several special committees to
deal with the emergency he found. He had wide powers and was able to put into effect a permit system to regulate
the number of people coming into Darwin. At times his methods were criticised as being authoritarian and on some
occasions his emotionalism also came under attack, but most observers admitted that he worked tirelessly to ensure
that the armed services, police, government departments and voluntary agencies functioned as a team. In addition
to the evacuation, he gave special priority to health, the repair of the Australian Broadcasting Commission radio
station, and the restoration of water, sewerage and other public utilities. By 31 December essential services had
been restored in some areas, the radio station was partly functional and the population was reduced from 48 571
to 10 638. Just seven days after the cyclone, Stretton handed the rehabilitation of Darwin back to the civilian
authorities, though the National Emergency Operations Centre in Canberra continued to coordinate relief measures
until 3 January 1975. Accepting his withdrawal, the Administrator of the Northern Territory, Jock Nelson, said,
‘The people of Darwin have a great debt of gratitude to the General in what has been the biggest national crisis and
disaster in Australia’s history.’
Stretton returned to Canberra and continued to head the National Disasters Organisation until his retirement
in 1978. In 1975 his Darwin work was recognised when he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
He was also in the same year elected Australian of the Year and Father of the Year. In 1976, he published a first
hand account of his time in Darwin, The Furious Days: The Relief of Darwin. A controversial book, it pulled no
punches in telling of attitudes and pressures brought to bear on him by politicians, public servants and service
personnel, and he showed how he dealt with those obstructions. The book was widely criticised, especially by
those who felt that his comments on others involved in the cyclone relief measures were frequently unfair. He was
attacked under privilege in the federal parliament and reprimanded by his Army superiors. He was prevented from
replying publicly to the accusations until his retirement. He finally did so, although not to everyone’s satisfaction,
in his autobiography, Soldier in a Storm, which appeared in 1978. ‘It is’, he wrote in the book, ‘regrettable that
my story has to conclude with an account of the viciousness and bitterness that can be expressed when one tries to
expose the insincerity and hypocrisy that exists in the top echelons of national life.’
Following his retirement from government employment, Stretton worked as a barrister in Canberra.
K Cole, Winds of Fury, 1977; Debrett’s Handbook of Australia, 1987; A Stretton, Soldier in a Storm, 1978, The Furious Days, 1976.
DAVID CARMENT, Vol 2.STRETTON, ALFRED VICTOR (1890–1963), clerk and policeman, was born in Borroloola on 13 July
1890, youngest child of William George Stretton and his wife Alice Anna, nee Arthur. After local schooling,
he became a clerk with A E Jolly and Company for several years before joining the police force in 1911. His early
appointments included remote postings at Borroloola, Timber Creek (1914), Bow Hills (1915–1916), Pine Creek
(1916), Anthonys Lagoon (1918–1922) and Ranken River (1923–1924).
In May 1919, he was appointed to the rank of Acting Sergeant and was promoted Sergeant in 1924. Between
1924 and 1927, he was Protector of Aborigines. He became Deputy Police Commissioner in 1925 during the
short time that the head of the police held the rank of Commissioner. When the Northern Territory again became
a single entity in 1931 (and the Administrator resumed the title of ‘Commissioner’) he was promoted to lead the
police force with the rank of Superintendent. He held this position until his retirement in 1948. After Darwin