Donald Thomson In Arnhem Land

'I had lived and hunted with these people, accompanied them on their nomadic wanderings and learned their customs and their languages with the result that I understood and believed in them and resented the injustices under which they had suffered for so long at the hands of the white man and other invaders of their territory.'

In 1932-33, Yolngu people living in the Caledon Bay area of north-east Arnhem Land were involved in the killing of five Japanese fishermen and three Europeans. A puni...