WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

people whose lives were so closely entwined with the Indonesian fishermen (Clarke
2000; Flinders 1814; Macknight 1969, 1972, 1976, 1986; Mulvaney 1975, 1989;
Ganter 2006). In the Northern Territory, the Macassans are the subject of many
Aboriginal songs, stories and ceremonies; Macassan words have been adopted,
including names given to land; and even elements of Macassan culture can be seen in
the clan totems (Clarke 2000). Paintings and stone arrangements depicting perahus
(Macassan boats) are commonplace and the trepang processing sites themselves have
been extensively studied, providing detailed evidence of Macassan material culture.
Not as much is known about Indonesian interaction with Aboriginal people of the
north-west Kimberley coast, but what is known suggests a very different kind of
relationship than that experienced by the Macassans in Arnhem Land. The
Indonesians called this part of the north Australian coastline 'Kayu Djawa' or 'Kai
Jawa', and as in Arnhem Land, set up camps along its shore and outlying islands to
process trepang (O'Connor and Arrow 2008; Russell 2004). Baudin's expedition of
1803 encountered 26 large perahu near Cassini Island. The French expeditioners
ascertained that the Macassans had been visiting for centuries (Crawford 1968;
Russell 2004, 6 citing Serventy 1952, 15). The Government Resident of Camden
Harbour recorded a fleet of Makassarese sailing into the harbour from the south in
1865 (Crawford 1968).
Without exception, historical sources for the Kimberley area describe a hostile
relationship between the Indonesians and Aboriginal people. Baudin's men were told
that the Aborigines were 'extremely fierce' (Baudin 1974). According to Dramah, a
Macassan captain interviewed by Philip Parker King in 1818, Aboriginal people were
'treacherous and hostile' and the Macassan's small canoes were frequently stolen
(King 1822 vol 1, 136; see King 1969 [1827]). He concluded that a 'perpetual warfare
exists between them' [i.e. Aboriginal peoplee and Indonesians] (King 1822, vol 1,
138; see King 1969 [1827]). Vosmaer, in his 1839 article on Indonesian trade with
Australia, described the Arnhem Land relationship as generally friendly, with
Aboriginal people assisting the Indonesians and trading with them, whereas
Aboriginal people in the Kimberley were regarded as very hostile (Vosmaer 1839).
Aboriginal oral traditions also describe fights between Aboriginal people and
Indonesians, and like Dramah, they ascribe hostilities to the Aboriginal theft of
canoes. Aboriginal people living today recall stories about their grandfathers and
uncles stealing canoes from visiting Indonesian perahus. There are also oral accounts
involving culture heros like Wolaru, who was fed up with the Indonesian intrusion
and sank the whole fleet to the north of Wokuwoku island. In other versions of the
story, Wolaru is replaced by the Wanjina Jakulamarra. In retaliation, the Indonesians
shot Wolaru/Jakulamarra (Crawford 2001, 2009; pers. comm. K. Doohan, 2009).
To date, there is no evidence that Kimberley Aboriginal people worked for the
Indonesians, stored produce for trade, seeded pearl shell to produce pearls, or
volunteered as crew as recorded by Trudgeon (2000) regarding the Yolngu people's
interaction with the Macassans in east Arnhem Land (Crawford 2009). However,
Kimberley Aboriginal people did in time learn how to make their own canoes,
modelling them on Indonesian prototypes. These craft replaced the double log raft in
the some parts of the north Kimberley and allowed Aboriginal people to visit islands
far off the mainland, like Cassini Island (Crawford, 2009). A type of Kriol also
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