The origins of the name Humpty Doo seem lost in local legend but some think it is named after a nearby station called Umpity Doo, but no one seems to know for sure.
With a population just shy of 5,500 and located a short drive from Darwin it’s not exactly a one-horse town, but Humpty Doo does seem to exist in a world of its own. It’s a place where according to the local publican you can: “Meet real Aussie characters in a real Aussie pub”.
The kind of place where pub bands are a plenty and horses and Asian buffaloes are allowed into the main bar for drinking competitions with regularity, but the real question today is what, if anything, does the arrival of the NBN mean to the inhabitants of this charmingly bizarre little town?
Humpty Doo Hotel Bar manager Boomer said the internet connection in the area is pretty poor and often local businesses struggle to perform even basic tasks like online banking and sending emails.
They do things differently in Humpty Doo. (Humpty Doo Hotel)
“It’s not that good”, she states plainly in her broad and relaxed Top End accent.
“We have black spots out here – it’s not that good out here.”
The Humpty Doo Hotel is something of a local institution and does heavy trade throughout the year. The pub is referenced in no less than Slim Dusty's ‘Humpty Doo Waltz’ as well as ‘The Man from Humpty Doo’ by Ted Egan, although these days you’re more likely to catch the likes of Normie Rowe or an ACDC Thunderstruck tribute band playing there.
But for Boomer, whose primary concern is serving the hundreds of schooners, lunch and dinner meals the pub serves up every day, the prospect of faster internet is not particuarly enthralling.
"Not really thinking about it here to be honest," she said.
"At the moment it's pretty flat out and tourists are here a lot and the weather brings a lot of people through as well.
According to Boomer, most locals have not really heard much about the rollout of the NBN in the area, but she said anything that made it easier to deal with accommodation bookings and email queries would be welcome.
Humpty Doo Hotel Bar manager Boomer says locals have not really given much thought to the arrival of the NBN in their remote town. (Humpty Doo Hotel)
“We’d use it for business stuff like email and accommodation and for bookings, hopefully it (NBN) would make it better, that’d be good,” she said.
CEO of Lichfield Council Russell Anderson said the NBN's arrival was Humpty Doo finally catching up with the rest of the world.
"This urban service being brought to rural areas - it's changing times and opening a whole new frontier to rural people to communicate worldwide," he said.
"It (the NBN) has got a lot of advantages for the community, business will be able to utilise live skyping and show their produce to the world. The community at this moment, some parts don’t have broadband or even basic internet access.
"At the moment for movies, for example you only have Foxtel satellite and if you're in the middle of a best movie and a cloud appears, you miss out because the service goes down."
Anderson believed attractions like the town's famous big boxing crocodile statue, outside the service station on the Arnhem Highway, would benefit from wider online exposure.
"That fibre-glass crocodile is an introduction if you like to the area and was put there by the local service station. It's becoming aged, so in other words needs a coat paint, but it’s always been used to identify Humpty Doo," he said.
"A few years ago, a young child was taken and it serves as a reminder and a warning."
The town's most notable resident is WWF wrestler Outback Jack – who claimed to hail from Humpty Doo after creating his persona to capitalize on the brief Crocodile Dundee craze of the 1980s. It’s unclear if he ever resided there however.
The "Big Boxing Croc" of Humpty Doo. (Stuart Edwards)
According to the NBN Co, more than 2,700 farms, homes and businesses in parts of Humpty Doo, Howard Springs and Noonamah East can now switch on the NBN.
NBN Co spokesperson Justin Jarvis said the rollout of the NBN would give locals better access to online services including e-health, distance education; greater business opportunities and entertainment.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates the rollout of the NBN is gaining momentum in the Northern Territory – and with it comes many economic and social opportunities for local communities,” he said in a statement released today after the rollout.
The bar at the Humpty Doo Hotel, a pub immortalised in a song by Slim Dusty. (Humpty Doo Hotel)
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