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Have they finally landed?! Actually, no - but Peter Dermoudy’s ‘Flying Saucer House’ probably fooled a few visitors in its day. Located on the site of the old Darwin Hospital in Larrakeyah, this unusual dwelling was quite the Darwin architectural icon prior to its destruction during Cyclone Tracy. Officially known as 'the Futuro', it was designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen during the late 1960s as a ski chalet. After seeing the house in a magazine, Darwin architect Peter Dermoudy bought one in 1971 for $20,000, thinking it would be well insulated in hot as well as cold climates. It was one of only seven in Australia. “It was like living in an Esky,” he later told ABC Darwin. Peter's dream of attaching a slippery slide to connect the Futuro to a swimming pool never eventuated and in 1974, Cyclone Tracy “it open like a cracked egg”


Forgotten Territory was a weekly photo column of historic images in the Northern Territory News which I curated from 2016 until 2019 supported by the collections of the Northern Territory Library and other cultural institutions around Australia, as well as local history Facebook groups. 

Click on the images to read the story behind the image.

Warning: May contain images of people who have died.

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