Stan Cawood

Cawood was born in Bellingen, New South Wales and, after primary schooling there, he attended De La Selle Collage in Armidale and then St Joseph's College in Hunters Hill. After completing his schooling he began working as a jackaroo in New South Wales before traveling to Kolkata, then known as Calcutta, in India to deliver 500 horses that had been sold to the Indian Army.

Around the time that his father was appointed government resident Cawood moved to the Northern Territory where he worked as a jackaroo at Lake Nash Station, nearby to Alpurrurulam, where he was based for two years. He would sometimes travel with the police officer, constable Harry Allen over the Sandover track, to visit his father in Alice Springs; their vehicle was the second to be able to cover this route.

In 1928 and 1929 Cawood began driving for Bond's Tours, operated by Bert Bond, one of the first tourism operators in Central Australia who based his business from Alice Springs and he would take tour groups to places like Arltunga and Palm Valley; these tours often lasted several days. In 1929 he joined the search for the Kookaburra (aircraft) and helped retrieve the bodies of Keith Anderson and Henry Smith "Bobby" Hitchcock where they had crash landed in the Tanami Desert; he worked alongside William George Murray{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Dick |title=Kookaburra, the most compelling story in Australia's aviation history |last2=Davis |first2=Pedr |date=1980 |publisher=Lansdowne Press |isbn=978-0-7018-1357-4 |location=Sydney ; New York}} They reached the Kookaburra on 13 June 1929.

Later, in a newspaper report, Cawood recalled having seen Anderson and Hitchcock when they were refueling in Alice Springs before their crash and that he tried to impress on the importance of carrying ample water but that his warning was laughed off. Cawood said that there was an attempt to switch the last can of petrol for the journey with a can of water but that Anderson refused saying: "[n]o thanks. Petrol is more precious to me than water".{{cite news |last=Ellis |first=Lindsay |date=16 November 1974 |title=A rusty skeleton in the desert |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110788351 |access-date=13 December 2024 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=49 |issue=13,914}}

In 1932 Cawood married Ethel Underdown, the sister of Ly Underdown, and, soon after their marriage, they moved to New South Wales where Cawood took work as a forester with the New South Wales Forestry Department. They later moved to Queensland where he was the manager of a mill and, during World War II, begun cutting timber for the Army. In 1941, after contracting Dengue fever, he was sent to Sydney where he worked in procurement for the Army.

In 1942 he returned to Alice Springs where he managed the Capitol Cafe an Theatre which were owned by his moth-in-law Daisy Underdown. After the war Cawood began driving a truck and transporting cooper from the Home of Bullion mine, near Barrow Creek,{{Cite web |title=Home of Bullion Copper Mine, Barrow Creek, Barkly Region, Northern Territory, Australia |url=https://www.mindat.org/loc-294346.html |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=www.mindat.org}} and later from Hart Range. He also used his truck to transport beer from Alice Springs to Darwin.

In 1949 Cawood founded the Territory Transport Association in order to protect the interests of road transport operators in the Northern Territory; he also formed Co-ord which coordinated road and rail freight between Alice Springs and Larrimah as a part of a contract with the Commonwealth Government. He also acted as its chairman of directors from 1953 to 1957. Also in the 1950s Cawood started a tourism business, which he named Alice Springs Tours, which took visitors to what is now the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park and the Watarrka National Park.{{Cite web |last=Chlanda |first=Erwin |date=2024-12-06 |title=Tourism started as a do-it-yourself venture - Alice Springs News |url=https://alicespringsnews.com.au/2024/12/06/tourism-started-as-a-do-it-yourself-venture/ |access-date=2024-12-13 |language=en-AU}} Eventually Cawood also took over the management of The Chalet, nearby to Uluṟu and he would run this for 20 years.

In 1961 Cawood sold his interests in Co-ord to focus on tourism and was part of establishing the Central Australian Tours Association and became its first chairman; another member of this association was Bernie Kilgariff.{{Cite web |last=Chlanda |first=Erwin |date=2018-08-15 |title=Chin up, says tourism pioneer: Go and sell it - Alice Springs News |url=https://alicespringsnews.com.au/2018/08/15/chin-up-says-tourism-pioneer-go-and-sell-it/ |access-date=2024-12-13 |language=en-AU}} This was the first industry organisation in the region and it was later sold in the late 1970s.{{Cite web |title=Cawood Street (Road) |url=https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/print_extract.jsp?id=24791 |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=NT Place Names Register}}

In 1976 Cawood and his wife retired to live at Palm Cove, Queensland.

Cawood died on 17 October 2003 aged 96.

Three oral history recordings of Cawood's are held by Library & Archives NT.{{Cite web |title=NTRS 226 Stan Cawood TS 173 (Transcript of oral history interview), 1982 |url=https://navigator.nt.gov.au/page/keywordsearch_item_details.php?ss=cawood&sagency=on&sseries=on&sitems=on&sfunction=items&sunitid=NTRS%20226/P0001/11&sidnum=703152&sbreadcrumb=ks,ksSumRes,ksRes |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=Archives Navigator}}{{Cite web |title=NTRS 226 Reginald Rechner and Stan Cawood TS 309 (Transcript of oral history interview), 1982 |url=https://navigator.nt.gov.au/page/keywordsearch_item_details.php?ss=cawood&sagency=on&sseries=on&sitems=on&sfunction=items&sunitid=NTRS%20226/P0001/19&sidnum=703297&sbreadcrumb=ks,ksSumRes,ksRes |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=Archives Navigator}}{{Cite web |title=NTRS 225 Stan Cawood TS 702 (Transcript of oral history interview), 1992 |url=https://navigator.nt.gov.au/page/keywordsearch_item_details.php?ss=cawood&sagency=on&sseries=on&sitems=on&sfunction=items&sunitid=NTRS%20226/P0001/47&sidnum=703681&sbreadcrumb=ks,ksSumRes,ksRes |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=Archives Navigator}}

• The Stan Cawood Truck Parking Bay, a rest area nearby to Ali Curung (Alekarenge), is named for Cawood.{{Cite web |title=Stan Cawood Truck Parking Bay (Rest Area) |url=https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=24530 |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=NT Place Names Register}}
• Cawood Street in Kilgariff, a suburb of Alice Springs, is also named for him.

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Category:1907 births

Category:2003 deaths

Category:People from Alice Springs

Category:20th-century businesspeople

Category:Australian hoteliers

Category:Tourism in the Northern Territory