[3] Harold Snell Junior remained on the property until his mother died, when he went to Hamilton, Victoria to train as a carpenter.

Snell moved to Darwin in 1912, to work for the Commonwealth Government building houses for public servants at Myilly Point.

[4] After completing work on the Myilly Point houses, Snell took up a mining lease at Maranboy,[5] eight kilometres from where the community of Barunga is today, after the discovery of tin in the region in 1913.

He was granted leave in the United Kingdom from March to June 1919 where he took on training and ship carpentry for Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow.

Snell and his new wife and child returned to Australia on board the HT Konigin Luise on the 18 December 1919, disembarking on 2 February 1920.

These included the Soldiers Club Rooms and Memorial Hall on Smith Street[11] and Lyons Cottage for the British Australian Telegraph Company.

[16] With the buildup of troops in the Top End after the outbreak of World War II, Darwin's population doubled between 1936 and 1939.