Jump to content

Caledon Bay crisis: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Redoing layout, with better timeline and citations.
Restructured and added detail (still a bit of polishing to come).
Line 9: Line 9:


==Series of events==
==Series of events==
===Killings===

There had previously been killings of Japanese fishermen in 1921 and 1926.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246306871 |title=KILLING OF 5 JAPS. REPORTED |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]] |volume=2, |issue=195 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 September 1932 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref name=timeline>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33305182 |title=IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTED. |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=XLIX, |issue=9,746 |location=Western Australia |date=23 September 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> On 17 September 1932,<ref>cite web|url=http://uncommonlives.naa.gov.au/timeline.asp?lID=2| title=Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda: Timeline|dead-url=yes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206075734/http://uncommonlives.naa.gov.au/timeline.asp?lID=2 |archive-date=9 July 2009 |website=Uncommon lives}}</ref> five Japanese trepangers were killed by Aboriginal men in the Caledon Bay area of northeast [[Arnhem Land]]. (Evidence was later given that the Japanese men had taken several Aboriginal women.)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94303000 |title=MASSACRE OF PEARL DIVERS |newspaper=[[The Northern Star|Northern Star]] |volume=57 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 September 1932 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> <ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33307013 |title=CALEDON BAY BLACKS |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=XLIX, |issue=9,713 |location=Western Australia |date=16 August 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33319362 |title=CALEDON BAY MASSACRE. |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=XLIX, |issue=9,770 |location=Western Australia |date=21 October 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
There had previously been killings of Japanese fishermen in 1921 and 1926.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246306871 |title=KILLING OF 5 JAPS. REPORTED |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]] |volume=2, |issue=195 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 September 1932 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref name=timeline>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33305182 |title=IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTED. |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=XLIX, |issue=9,746 |location=Western Australia |date=23 September 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> On 17 September 1932,<ref>cite web|url=http://uncommonlives.naa.gov.au/timeline.asp?lID=2| title=Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda: Timeline|dead-url=yes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206075734/http://uncommonlives.naa.gov.au/timeline.asp?lID=2 |archive-date=9 July 2009 |website=Uncommon lives}}</ref> five Japanese trepangers were killed by Aboriginal men in the Caledon Bay area of northeast [[Arnhem Land]]. (Evidence was later given that the Japanese men had taken several Aboriginal women.)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94303000 |title=MASSACRE OF PEARL DIVERS |newspaper=[[The Northern Star|Northern Star]] |volume=57 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 September 1932 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> <ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33307013 |title=CALEDON BAY BLACKS |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=XLIX, |issue=9,713 |location=Western Australia |date=16 August 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33319362 |title=CALEDON BAY MASSACRE. |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=XLIX, |issue=9,770 |location=Western Australia |date=21 October 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>


In separate incident, two white men named Fagan and Traynor had been reported missing some months earlier.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24867599 |title=MURDER BY BLACKS |newspaper=[[The Mercury]] |volume=CXXXIX, |issue=20,638 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=29 September 1933 |accessdate=9 July 2019 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24867599 |title=MURDER BY BLACKS |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |volume=CXXXIX, |issue=20,638 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=29 September 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1188235 |title=NO EVIDENCE AGAINST CALEDON KILLERS |newspaper=[[The Courier-mail]] |issue=193 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=11 April 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In separate incident, two white men, William Fagan and Frank Traynor, had been reported missing some months earlier after they had not returned from a fishing expedition.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24867599 |title=MURDER BY BLACKS |newspaper=[[The Mercury]] |volume=CXXXIX, |issue=20,638 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=29 September 1933 |accessdate=9 July 2019 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24867599 |title=MURDER BY BLACKS |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |volume=CXXXIX, |issue=20,638 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=29 September 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1188235 |title=NO EVIDENCE AGAINST CALEDON KILLERS |newspaper=[[The Courier-mail]] |issue=193 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=11 April 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>


In June 1933 a police party arrived in the area from Darwin, to look for suspects.<ref name=timeline/> On 1 August 1933, a group of police, led by Mounted Constable Ted Morey and including Constable Albert McColl, were trying to track down the people they believed were involved in the killings of the Japanese and possibly the missing men. They came across a group of aboriginal women, and McColl and the women became separated from the others. The women included Djaparri, a wife of Dhakiyarr, a Yolngu elder. McColl had handcuffed the women, as part of a plan to trap Dhakiyarr. When Dhakiyarr attempted to contact his wife, McColl shot at him and misfired; Dhakiyarr threw a spear at McColl, killing him.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176007246 |title=CONSTABLE SPEARED |newspaper=[[The Uralla Times]] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 August 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article192616957 |title=TRAGIC STORY TOLD |newspaper=[[Tweed Daily]] |volume=XXI, |issue=177 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 July 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32931482 |title=SPEARING OF POLICEMAN. |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=50, |issue=15,006 |location=Western Australia |date=26 July 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref> Egan, Ted, 1996, [http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21652679?selectedversion=NBD11994736 Justice All Their Own]. Melbourne University Press.</ref><ref>This incident is dramatised in the documentary film [http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/html/dhakiyarr.htm Dhakiyarr vs the King] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814045534/http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/html/dhakiyarr.htm# |date=14 August 2014 }} (2004) by Tom Murray and Allan Collins.</ref>
In June 1933 a police party arrived in the area from Darwin, to look for suspects.<ref name=timeline/> On 1 August 1933, a group of police, led by Mounted Constable Ted Morey and including Constable Albert McColl, were on Woodah Island trying to track down the people they believed were involved in the killings of the Japanese and possibly the missing men. They came across a group of aboriginal women, and McColl and the women became separated from the others. The women included Djaparri, a wife of Dhakiyarr, a Yolngu elder. McColl had handcuffed the women, as part of a plan to trap Dhakiyarr. When Dhakiyarr attempted to contact his wife, McColl shot at him and misfired; Dhakiyarr threw a spear at McColl, killing him.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176007246 |title=CONSTABLE SPEARED |newspaper=[[The Uralla Times]] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 August 1933 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article192616957 |title=TRAGIC STORY TOLD |newspaper=[[Tweed Daily]] |volume=XXI, |issue=177 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 July 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32931482 |title=SPEARING OF POLICEMAN. |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=50, |issue=15,006 |location=Western Australia |date=26 July 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref> Egan, Ted, 1996, [http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21652679?selectedversion=NBD11994736 Justice All Their Own]. Melbourne University Press.</ref><ref>This incident is dramatised in the documentary film [http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/html/dhakiyarr.htm Dhakiyarr vs the King] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814045534/http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/html/dhakiyarr.htm# |date=14 August 2014 }} (2004) by Tom Murray and Allan Collins.</ref>


==Aftermath==
===Reaction===
The killings triggered panic in [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]], capital of the Northern Territory, generating fears that Aborigines &mdash; the majority of the population in the Territory at the time &mdash; might stage an uprising. A [[punitive expedition]] was proposed by police to "teach the blacks a lesson".<ref>[http://epress.anu.edu.au/hrj/2005_01/pdf/hrj-ch06.pdf Howard Morphy, 2005, "Mutual Conversion? The Methodist Church and the Yolŋu, with particular reference to Yirrkala"], ''Humanities Research'', vol. XII, no. 1, p. 43]</ref> (In 1928, during a previous punitive expedition in the Northern Territory, police had killed up to 110 Aboriginal men, women and children; an event known as the [[Coniston massacre]].)
After the news of McColl's death reached Darwin on 11 August, many in the community became alarmed. A [[punitive expedition]] by police was proposed on 29 August by Administrator RH Weddell<ref name=timeline/> to "teach the blacks a lesson".<ref>[http://epress.anu.edu.au/hrj/2005_01/pdf/hrj-ch06.pdf Howard Morphy, 2005, "Mutual Conversion? The Methodist Church and the Yolŋu, with particular reference to Yirrkala"], ''Humanities Research'', vol. XII, no. 1, p. 43]</ref> There were protests against this idea, peaking in early September, and Department of the Interior Minister J.A. Perkins quashed the idea.<ref name=timeline/> (In 1928, during a previous punitive expedition in the Northern Territory, police had killed up to 110 Aboriginal men, women and children; an event known as the [[Coniston massacre]], and many feared another such slaughter.)


On 14 November 1933, a Fred Gray, a trepanger, reported that "Mereela" and "Barion" had killed Fagan and Traynor, and Dhakiyarr had killed McColl.<ref name=timeline/>
Many feared another such slaughter, and a party from the [[Church Missionary Society]] travelled to Arnhem Land and persuaded Dhakiyarr and three other men, who were sons of a Yolngu elder, Wonggu, to return to Darwin with them for trial. In Darwin, to the horror of the missionaries, Dhakiyarr was sentenced to death by hanging, and the three other men were sentenced to twenty years hard labour.<ref>Murray, Tom (2002) Producer. [http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/hindsight-sunday-july-7th2c013/4760586 Tuckiar vs the King and Territory]. ABC Radio National Hindsight.</ref> On appeal to the [[High Court of Australia]], Dhakiyarr’s sentence was quashed,<ref name="Tuckiar">{{cite AustLII|HCA|49|1934|litigants=[[Tuckiar v The King]] |parallelcite=[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1934/49.pdf (1934) 52 CLR 335] |date=8 November 1934 |courtname=auto}}.</ref> and he was released from jail, but disappeared. Rumours suggested he had been killed by police.


On 22 November 1933<ref name=timeline/> a peace mission was planned by the [[Church Missionary Society]] to speak with the alleged murderers and eyewitnesses. They travelled to Arnhem Land and persuaded Dhakiyarr and three other men, who were sons of a Yolngu elder, Wonggu, to return to Darwin with them for trial.<ref name=Murray/> On 15 March 1934, Dhakiyarr and 16 other Yolngu men travelled to Darwin, accompanied by missionaries.<ref name=timeline/>
⚫
The resulting crisis threatened to bring about even more bloodshed. To defuse the situation, a young anthropologist, [[Donald Thomson]], offered to investigate the causes of the conflict. He travelled to Arnhem Land, on a mission that many said would be suicidal, and got to know and understand the people who lived there. After a seven months’ investigation, he persuaded the Federal Government to free the three men convicted of the killings and returned with them to their own country, living for over a year with their people, documenting their culture.

===Trials===
Dhakiyarr was arrested and put in [[Fannie Bay Gaol]], but there were many delays before the cases could be brought to trial, owing mostly to lack of prosecution witnesses. In the meantime, In May 1934, a Northern Territory Ordinance was amended so that a death sentence would not be mandatory in Aboriginal murder convictions. Clergyman and anthropologist [[A. P. Elkin]] and others argued for the need for a separate system of native courts. Evidence was offered that the Japanese men had assaulted the Yolngu women. Gray was prepared to return the Aborigines to their community in his boat, suggesting that a lecture would be sufficient.

On 1 August 1934, the three men convicted of murdering the Japanese trepangers were sentenced to twenty years' hard labour, and on 3 August 1934 Dhakiyarr was sentenced to death by hanging in the [[Supreme Court of the Northern Territory]] by Judge Wells and an all-white jury.<ref name=timeline/><ref name=Murray>Murray, Tom (2002) Producer. [http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/hindsight-sunday-july-7th2c013/4760586 Tuckiar vs the King and Territory]. ABC Radio National Hindsight.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49493298 |title=CALEDON BAY MURDER CASES |newspaper=[[Northern Standard]] |issue=28 |location=Northern Territory, Australia |date=13 April 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

NT newspapers supported Judge Wells' sentence, but there were protests from many quarters, not only about the sentence, but about the fairness of the trial and the Judge's comments during the trial.<ref name=timeline/> Four days before Dhakiyarr's scheduled hanging, on 29 August 1934, Governor-General [[Isaac Isaacs]] ordered a stay of execution, pending an appeal, and the following day, the High Court granted the right to appeal.
⚫
===Appeal: ''Tuckiar v The King''===
{{main|Tuckiar v The King}}
⚫
On 29–30 October 1934 the appeal was heard at the [[High Court of Australia]] in [[Melbourne]], in a case known as ''Tuckiar v. the King'', Dhakiyarr’s sentence was quashed<ref name="Tuckiar">{{cite AustLII|HCA|49|1934|litigants=[[Tuckiar v The King]] |parallelcite=[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1934/49.pdf (1934) 52 CLR 335] |date=8 November 1934 |courtname=auto}}.</ref> after numerous irregularities in the first trial were pointed out,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32806859 |title=CALEDON BAY MURDER |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=50, |issue=15,089 |location=Western Australia |date=31 October 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35015130 |title=HIGH COURT HEARS APPEAL BY TACKIAR |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]] |location=South Australia |date=30 October 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
⚫
and he was released from jail and taken to Kahlin compound, but was never seen again. Oral tradition has it that he was murdered by friends of McColl.<ref>Mickey Dewar, 'Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda (1900–1934)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-12885/text23275, published first in hardcopy 2005, accessed online 30 May 2018.</ref>
==Aftermath==
⚫
The resulting crisis threatened to bring about even more bloodshed. To defuse the situation, a young anthropologist, [[Donald Thomson]], offered to investigate the causes of the conflict. He travelled to Arnhem Land, on a mission that many said would be suicidal, and got to know and understand the people who lived there. After a seven months’ investigation, he persuaded the Federal Government to free the three men convicted of the killings and returned with them to their own country, living for over a year with their people, documenting their culture.{{cn}}


He formed a strong bond with the Yolngu people, and in 1941 he persuaded the Army to establish a special reconnaissance force of Yolngu men known as the [[Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit]], including Wonggu and his sons, to help repel Japanese raids on the northern coastline of Australia.
He formed a strong bond with the Yolngu people, and in 1941 he persuaded the Army to establish a special reconnaissance force of Yolngu men known as the [[Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit]], including Wonggu and his sons, to help repel Japanese raids on the northern coastline of Australia.
Line 27: Line 40:
The historian [[Henry Reynolds (historian)|Henry Reynolds]] has suggested that the Caledon Bay crisis was a decisive moment in the history of Aboriginal-European relations.{{cn|date=July 2019}}
The historian [[Henry Reynolds (historian)|Henry Reynolds]] has suggested that the Caledon Bay crisis was a decisive moment in the history of Aboriginal-European relations.{{cn|date=July 2019}}


==Dhakiyarr trial==
⚫
{{also|Tuckiar v The King}}
Dhakiyarr was arrested and charged with the murder of Albert McColl. At a trial lasting a day in April 1934, the all-white jury found him guilty and the judge sentenced to death.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49493298 |title=CALEDON BAY MURDER CASES |newspaper=[[Northern Standard]] |issue=28 |location=Northern Territory, Australia |date=13 April 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
⚫
</ref> During an appeal in the [[High Court of Australia]], numerous irregularities in the first trial were pointed out,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32806859 |title=CALEDON BAY MURDER |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=50, |issue=15,089 |location=Western Australia |date=31 October 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and the sentence was overturned.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35015130 |title=HIGH COURT HEARS APPEAL BY TACKIAR |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]] |location=South Australia |date=30 October 1934 |accessdate=30 May 2018 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

⚫
Dhakiyarr was freed and taken to Kahlin compound, but was never seen again. Oral tradition has it that he was murdered by friends of McColl.<ref>Mickey Dewar, 'Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda (1900–1934)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-12885/text23275, published first in hardcopy 2005, accessed online 30 May 2018.</ref>
==References==
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{reflist|30em}}

Revision as of 09:22, 9 July 2019

The Caledon Bay crisis, refers to a series of killings at Caledon Bay in the Northern Territory of Australia during 1932–34, referred to in the press of the day as Caledon Bay murder(s). Five Japanese trepang fishers were killed by Aboriginal Australians of the Yolngu people. A police officer investigating the deaths, Albert McColl, was subsequently killed. Shortly afterwards, and two white men went missing on Woodah Island (with one body found later). With some of the white community alarmed by these events, a punitive expedition was proposed by NT police to "teach the blacks a lesson".

However, it was feared that a punitive expedition would lead to an event similar to the 1928 Coniston massacre (when a number of innocent Aboriginal people were killed by a white patrol group after a murder). A party from the Church Missionary Society travelled to Arnhem Land and persuaded Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda and three other men, sons of a Yolngu elder, Wonggu, to return to Darwin with them for trial.

In Darwin in April 1934, Dhakiyarr was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of McColl. The three other men were sentenced to 20 years' hard labour. After a seven months’ investigation, the Federal Government freed the three men imprisoned for the killings. On appeal to the High Court of Australia, in a case known as Tuckiar v The King, Dhakiyarr’s sentence was quashed in November 1934, and he was released from jail, but disappeared on his way home.

Series of events

Killings

There had previously been killings of Japanese fishermen in 1921 and 1926.[1][2] On 17 September 1932,[3] five Japanese trepangers were killed by Aboriginal men in the Caledon Bay area of northeast Arnhem Land. (Evidence was later given that the Japanese men had taken several Aboriginal women.)[4] [5][6]

In separate incident, two white men, William Fagan and Frank Traynor, had been reported missing some months earlier after they had not returned from a fishing expedition.[7][8][9]

In June 1933 a police party arrived in the area from Darwin, to look for suspects.[2] On 1 August 1933, a group of police, led by Mounted Constable Ted Morey and including Constable Albert McColl, were on Woodah Island trying to track down the people they believed were involved in the killings of the Japanese and possibly the missing men. They came across a group of aboriginal women, and McColl and the women became separated from the others. The women included Djaparri, a wife of Dhakiyarr, a Yolngu elder. McColl had handcuffed the women, as part of a plan to trap Dhakiyarr. When Dhakiyarr attempted to contact his wife, McColl shot at him and misfired; Dhakiyarr threw a spear at McColl, killing him.[10][11][12][13][14]

Reaction

After the news of McColl's death reached Darwin on 11 August, many in the community became alarmed. A punitive expedition by police was proposed on 29 August by Administrator RH Weddell[2] to "teach the blacks a lesson".[15] There were protests against this idea, peaking in early September, and Department of the Interior Minister J.A. Perkins quashed the idea.[2] (In 1928, during a previous punitive expedition in the Northern Territory, police had killed up to 110 Aboriginal men, women and children; an event known as the Coniston massacre, and many feared another such slaughter.)

On 14 November 1933, a Fred Gray, a trepanger, reported that "Mereela" and "Barion" had killed Fagan and Traynor, and Dhakiyarr had killed McColl.[2]

On 22 November 1933[2] a peace mission was planned by the Church Missionary Society to speak with the alleged murderers and eyewitnesses. They travelled to Arnhem Land and persuaded Dhakiyarr and three other men, who were sons of a Yolngu elder, Wonggu, to return to Darwin with them for trial.[16] On 15 March 1934, Dhakiyarr and 16 other Yolngu men travelled to Darwin, accompanied by missionaries.[2]

Trials

Dhakiyarr was arrested and put in Fannie Bay Gaol, but there were many delays before the cases could be brought to trial, owing mostly to lack of prosecution witnesses. In the meantime, In May 1934, a Northern Territory Ordinance was amended so that a death sentence would not be mandatory in Aboriginal murder convictions. Clergyman and anthropologist A. P. Elkin and others argued for the need for a separate system of native courts. Evidence was offered that the Japanese men had assaulted the Yolngu women. Gray was prepared to return the Aborigines to their community in his boat, suggesting that a lecture would be sufficient.

On 1 August 1934, the three men convicted of murdering the Japanese trepangers were sentenced to twenty years' hard labour, and on 3 August 1934 Dhakiyarr was sentenced to death by hanging in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory by Judge Wells and an all-white jury.[2][16][17]

NT newspapers supported Judge Wells' sentence, but there were protests from many quarters, not only about the sentence, but about the fairness of the trial and the Judge's comments during the trial.[2] Four days before Dhakiyarr's scheduled hanging, on 29 August 1934, Governor-General Isaac Isaacs ordered a stay of execution, pending an appeal, and the following day, the High Court granted the right to appeal.

Appeal: Tuckiar v The King

Main article: Tuckiar v The King

On 29–30 October 1934 the appeal was heard at the High Court of Australia in Melbourne, in a case known as Tuckiar v. the King, Dhakiyarr’s sentence was quashed[18] after numerous irregularities in the first trial were pointed out,[19][20] and he was released from jail and taken to Kahlin compound, but was never seen again. Oral tradition has it that he was murdered by friends of McColl.[21]

Aftermath

The resulting crisis threatened to bring about even more bloodshed. To defuse the situation, a young anthropologist, Donald Thomson, offered to investigate the causes of the conflict. He travelled to Arnhem Land, on a mission that many said would be suicidal, and got to know and understand the people who lived there. After a seven months’ investigation, he persuaded the Federal Government to free the three men convicted of the killings and returned with them to their own country, living for over a year with their people, documenting their culture.[citation needed]

He formed a strong bond with the Yolngu people, and in 1941 he persuaded the Army to establish a special reconnaissance force of Yolngu men known as the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit, including Wonggu and his sons, to help repel Japanese raids on the northern coastline of Australia.

The historian Henry Reynolds has suggested that the Caledon Bay crisis was a decisive moment in the history of Aboriginal-European relations.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "KILLING OF 5 JAPS. REPORTED". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. 2, , no. 195. New South Wales, Australia. 29 September 1932. p. 7. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTED". The West Australian. Vol. XLIX, , no. 9, 746. Western Australia. 23 September 1933. p. 5. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  3. ^ cite web|url=http://uncommonlives.naa.gov.au/timeline.asp?lID=2%7C title=Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda: Timeline|dead-url=yes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206075734/http://uncommonlives.naa.gov.au/timeline.asp?lID=2 |archive-date=9 July 2009 |website=Uncommon lives}}
  4. ^ "MASSACRE OF PEARL DIVERS". Northern Star. Vol. 57. New South Wales, Australia. 29 September 1932. p. 7. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "CALEDON BAY BLACKS". The West Australian. Vol. XLIX, , no. 9, 713. Western Australia. 16 August 1933. p. 13. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  6. ^ "CALEDON BAY MASSACRE". The West Australian. Vol. XLIX, , no. 9, 770. Western Australia. 21 October 1933. p. 5. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  7. ^ "MURDER BY BLACKS". The Mercury. Vol. CXXXIX, , no. 20, 638. Tasmania, Australia. 29 September 1933. p. 9. Retrieved 9 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  8. ^ "MURDER BY BLACKS". The Mercury. Vol. CXXXIX, , no. 20, 638. Tasmania, Australia. 29 September 1933. p. 9. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  9. ^ "NO EVIDENCE AGAINST CALEDON KILLERS". The Courier-mail. No. 193. Queensland, Australia. 11 April 1934. p. 14. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "CONSTABLE SPEARED". The Uralla Times. New South Wales, Australia. 17 August 1933. p. 1. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "TRAGIC STORY TOLD". Tweed Daily. Vol. XXI, , no. 177. New South Wales, Australia. 26 July 1934. p. 5. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  12. ^ "SPEARING OF POLICEMAN". The West Australian. Vol. 50, , no. 15, 006. Western Australia. 26 July 1934. p. 18. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  13. ^ Egan, Ted, 1996, Justice All Their Own. Melbourne University Press.
  14. ^ This incident is dramatised in the documentary film Dhakiyarr vs the King Archived 14 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine (2004) by Tom Murray and Allan Collins.
  15. ^ Howard Morphy, 2005, "Mutual Conversion? The Methodist Church and the Yolŋu, with particular reference to Yirrkala", Humanities Research, vol. XII, no. 1, p. 43]
  16. ^ a b Murray, Tom (2002) Producer. Tuckiar vs the King and Territory. ABC Radio National Hindsight.
  17. ^ "CALEDON BAY MURDER CASES". Northern Standard. No. 28. Northern Territory, Australia. 13 April 1934. p. 5. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ Tuckiar v The King [1934] HCA 49, (1934) 52 CLR 335 (8 November 1934), High Court (Australia).
  19. ^ "CALEDON BAY MURDER". The West Australian. Vol. 50, , no. 15, 089. Western Australia. 31 October 1934. p. 16. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  20. ^ "HIGH COURT HEARS APPEAL BY TACKIAR". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 30 October 1934. p. 15. Retrieved 30 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. ^ Mickey Dewar, 'Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda (1900–1934)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-12885/text23275, published first in hardcopy 2005, accessed online 30 May 2018.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caledon_Bay_crisis&oldid=905471202"