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bilby commented on the word berrimah lights
The suburb of Berrimah is generally considered to be the outermost suburb of Darwin. I say generally because there are various definitions depending upon whether you are a town planner, truck driver, councillor, biologist, federal representative and so on. Being little more than a glorified petrol station, the suburb is known mainly by its major intersection. The set of traffic lights there used to be the last sign of 'civilisation' as you left Darwin (and some would say there is precious little civilisation within the city limits, but that's another matter). In local parlance, the Berrimah lights acquired both a metaphorical and geographical meaning. e.g.
'The abysmal state of remote community housing is typical of the Berrimah lights mentality of the current government.'
This is an accusation that the government is only interested in matters in the capital (Darwin) and considers remote area matters to be somehow unworthy.
A variant is Berrimah line which has lovely Cold War connotations:
"WANTED: colour printer (Rapid Creek)
Posted by: xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:46 pm ((PST))
Must be in working order. Will pick up from anywhere north of Berrimah line. Thanks."
Despite a satellite town being built beyond Berrimah, the expression remains in use.
February 27, 2009