By ERWIN CHLANDA
“The Crown” missed the punchline and got the weather wrong when it showed Prince Charles, Princess Di and little William disembarking in Alice Springs from their flight from London, on March 3, 1983.
Episode 6, Season 4 of the otherwise excellent docudrama streaming on Netflix also didn’t get Charlie drawing his wife’s attention to one of the region’s inevitable “friendly” creatures which had apparently settled somewhere on his infant son’s face.
His first Aussie salute?
And yes, the river was running, but at the airport it wasn’t raining at the time of arrival.
How do I know? I was there, doing a pool shoot for several TV networks, together with a gaggle of camera persons lining up neatly behind a rope.
I was the closest to the aircraft and when the Royals had ambled past on the red carpet I stepped over the rope for what’s called in the trade a walking shot.
A police officer, unceremoniously, performed a very robust double-Nelson upon me, putting an abrupt end to my creative camera work.
The officer’s name was Daryl Manzie.
He later became a capable CLP Minister of the Crown and after that, following retirement, a radio presenter which gave us opportunity to have a laugh in a public forum about our Royal encounter.
An archival gem, Erwin.
Indeed, Daryl Manzie was a minister of the NT Government before the year was out – first elected as Member for Sanderson on December 3, 1983, and appointed almost straightaway as Minister for Community Development.
From then on he served in an astonishing range of portfolios until retiring from politics in 2001, setting the record as the Territory’s longest serving minister.