| Narrative | Roberts (2005, pp 190-191) wrote: ‘Around midnight on 28 July 1886, a party of Yanyuwa men attacked a cutter named the Smuggler while it was anchored between Vanderlin Island and the Mouth of the McArthur River. Well-known Gulf identity Captain Alfred Toms was killed and members of his crew were wounded...A number of Yanyuwa men, women and children were walking on the beach at a place called Murruba, on the southern tip of Vanderlin Island, as the Smuggler made its way slowly along the coast, between the beach and Little Vanderlin Island which lies a kilometre offshore. A shot from a heavy rifle rang out and a man in the group fell to the ground, bleeding. He died soon afterwards. His companions were puzzled as to why, and some wondered how, but others knew about the white man’s deadly, long-range rifles. In later years there was speculation that a Martini-Henry must have been used. About twelve kilometres further along the coast is a narrow stretch of white sand, backed by dense scrub. Here a freshwater creek, containing pandanus-lined waterholes, flows into the sea. The creek, beach and locality are called Yulbarra…Some or all of the men from the Smuggler went ashore and began shooting people, apparently for sport. When the shooting began, the Yanyuwa ran away.' |
