Caledon Bay crisis
Sequence of events
Sequence of events
------------------

### Killings

There had previously been killings of Japanese fishermen in 1921 and 1926\. On 17 September 1932, five Japanese [trepangers](/wiki/Trepanging "Trepanging") were killed by Aboriginal men in the Caledon Bay area of northeast [Arnhem Land](/wiki/Arnhem_Land "Arnhem Land"). (Evidence was later given that the Japanese men had taken several Aboriginal women.)

In a separate incident, two white men, William Fagan and Frank Traynor, were reported missing some months earlier after they failed to return from a fishing expedition. 

In June 1933 a police party arrived in the area from Darwin, to look for suspects. 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.This incident is dramatised in the documentary film [Dhakiyarr vs the King](http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/html/dhakiyarr.htm)  (2004\) by Tom Murray and Allan Collins.

### Reaction

After the news of McColl's death reached Darwin on 11 August 1933, many in the community became alarmed. A [punitive expedition](/wiki/Punitive_expedition "Punitive expedition") by police was proposed on 29 August by Administrator [R. H. Weddell](/wiki/R._H._Weddell "R. H. Weddell") to "teach the blacks a lesson".[Howard Morphy, 2005, "Mutual Conversion? The Methodist Church and the Yolŋu, with particular reference to Yirrkala"](http://epress.anu.edu.au/hrj/2005_01/pdf/hrj-ch06.pdf), *Humanities Research*, vol. XII, no. 1, p. 43] There were protests against this idea, peaking in early September with a unanimous resolution by the [Council of Churches](/wiki/Council_of_Churches_in_South_Australia "Council of Churches in South Australia"), and Interior Minister [John Perkins](/wiki/John_Perkins_%28Australian_politician%29 "John Perkins (Australian politician)") quashed the idea. In 1928, during a previous punitive expedition in the Northern Territory, police had killed up to 200 Aboriginal men, women and children; an event known as the [Coniston massacre](/wiki/Coniston_massacre "Coniston massacre"), and many feared another such slaughter.

On 14 November 1933, one Fred Gray, a trepanger, reported that "Mereela" and "Barion" had killed Fagan and Traynor, and Dhakiyarr had killed McColl. On 22 November 1933 a peace mission was planned by the [Church Missionary Society](/wiki/Church_Missionary_Society "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. On 15 March 1934, Dhakiyarr and 16 other Yolngu men travelled to Darwin, accompanied by missionaries.

### Trials

Dhakiyarr was arrested and put in [Fannie Bay Gaol](/wiki/Fannie_Bay_Gaol "Fannie Bay Gaol"), but there were many delays before the cases could be brought to trial, owing mostly to lack of prosecution witnesses. In April 1934, it was ruled that the confessions of Dhakiyarr and Meerera, who was said to have acted with Dhakiyarr in the killing of Traynor and Fagan, were inadmissible in a murder trial for these killings (the remains of one of the two, unidentified, had been found earlier). There was not enough evidence for these cases to be brought to trial. 

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](/wiki/A._P._Elkin "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 before they were killed. 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](/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_Northern_Territory "Supreme Court of the Northern Territory") by [Judge Wells](/wiki/Thomas_Wells_%28Australian_judge%29 "Thomas Wells (Australian judge)") and 12\-person jury.Murray, Tom (2002\) Producer. [Tuckiar vs the King and Territory](http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/hindsight-sunday-july-7th2c013/4760586). ABC Radio National Hindsight.

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. Four days before Dhakiyarr's scheduled hanging, on 29 August 1934, Governor\-General [Isaac Isaacs](/wiki/Isaac_Isaacs "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*

On 29–30 October 1934 the appeal was heard at the [High Court of Australia](/wiki/High_Court_of_Australia "High Court of Australia") in [Melbourne](/wiki/Melbourne "Melbourne"), in a case known as *Tuckiar v the King*, Dhakiyarr's sentence was quashed. after numerous irregularities in the first trial were pointed out,
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.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](http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dhakiyarr-wirrpanda-12885/text23275), published first in hardcopy 2005, accessed online 30 May 2018\.


What was the significance of the High Court granting the right to appeal?