A cheeky Outback tradition has been labelled ‘inappropriate’ after a group of Darwin locals bared their backsides to passing passengers – including children – on a luxury train heading into the northern capital this week.
As The Ghan neared Livingstone Airstrip on the outskirts of Darwin on Tuesday, a crowd people formed alongside the tracks and flashed their bottoms at those on board.
The ‘mooning of The Ghan’ began as a joke on the train’s inaugural journey in 2004, on which then-Prime Minister John Howard travelled as guest of honour, but it has grown into regular event with a ’21 bum salute’ done this year for its 21st birthday.
While the crowd this year might not have been as big as the original event, where some 400 people turned up to give the PM and tourists the special Northern Territory welcome, those in attendance made up for it with enthusiasm.
Regulars and first-timers alike gathered from 3pm near the airstrip 50km outside Darwin, which has been unofficially dubbed ‘Badlands Siding’, to join in the party atmosphere before the train passed through a couple of hours later.
A poster advertising the event shared on the socials of nearby pub Noonamah Tavern invited attendees to either bare their bums or, for those a little shy, to bring along two pink balloons on a stick.
It is usually held every decade – in 2004, 2014 and 2024 – but Tuesday was the first time it has been done in consecutive years.
‘It was so much fun last year we thought ”bugger it” let’s have a 21st birthday,’ regular mooner Narelle, also known as Ralph, told Nine News.
First-time participant Nicole Howard said she ‘brought out the Bridget Jones pants’ for the event.
‘I’m too upper class to show my bum,’ she laughed.
She along with dozens of others displayed their derrieres as the train rumbled through about 5pm.
‘It was definitely a rush, I’ve got a little tear in my eye,’ she said afterwards.
Shawn Bergquist said he found out about the tradition while he was a passenger on the train and returned this year to see it from the other side.
‘It was poking fun at the politicians that were on that train 21 years ago so that’s a good reason to keep doing it,’ he said.
But not everyone was up for the full moon party, with people taking to social media to slam the tradition, pointing out there was nothing funny about flashing child passengers.
‘Adults with their pants down. And kids around? Not approp!’ one user decried.
‘People need to grow up. If you do that anywhere else you would get done for it,’ another added.
‘With kids there!? what the heck,’ a third said.
Yet another added: ‘So it’s ok for adults to expose themselves in front of children now?’
And the flood of criticism kept coming with others saying ‘imagine the kids on that train who’re looking out the window’, ‘just an embarrassment for ‘ and ‘that would get you put on a registry these days because there’s kids around’.
However, others were quick to fire back, with one user saying: ‘All the bad commenters really need to evaluate their own lives and how boring they must be not to allow people to have some fun. Come on Karens, settle down and live a little.’
The Ghan was just this week named in Time Magazine’s 2025 Worlds Greatest Places to Stay list.
The 53-hour journey from spanning the 2,979km between Adelaide and Darwin crosses some of the most remote, rugged and picturesque landscapes on the planet.
Passengers see it all from luxuriously appointed sleeping cabins and dining cars, stopping along the way for experiences such as a formal dinner in the desert at sunset.
Its moniker is a shortened version of ‘The Afghan Express’ which was its original title to honour the camel drivers who arrived in during the late 19th century to assist explorers in traversing the country’s vast, dusty interior.
Formerly owned by the government it is these days is operated by tourism company Journey Beyond, which also runs two other iconic luxury train routes, the Indian Pacific and the Great Southern.
The company is owned by New York based equity firm Crestview Partners.
It will unveil two new suites next year, ‘Australis’ and ‘Aurora’, which it said will include a ‘next level’ of service including dedicated butlers, pillow menus and private bars along with in-room dining.