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were identified as leaders among ninety-five ‘criminals’ who were at that time ranging the Northern Territory/
Western Australian border engaged in cattle and horse spearing, sporadic attacks on lone travellers, and the pursuit
of blood feuds against other Aboriginal groups. Sidney Downer gave Nemarluk a little more prominence in a
police account of Langdon’s work. Langdon was the officer who arrested others in Nemarluk’s group (Chugulla
and Tiger) and barely missed catching Nemarluk himself by one or two days.
In the eyes of white police the Blunder Bay people had an especially bad reputation. Blunder Bay is located
near the mouth of the Victoria River and is not far from Legune cattle station where several Aboriginal language
groups regularly held meetings for ceremonies and cultural exchange. It is a place that Idriess tells us Nemarluk
also visited frequently.
There is an Aboriginal viewpoint recorded about these activities. Grant Ngabidj, a Gadjerung man of the tidal
coasts was often a participant at Legune station ceremonies when he would himself have been about twenty-eight
years old. In his memoirs, he mentioned the two men Nemarluk and Deven. Deven was regarded as ‘the best
runner’ of their hunting group. He once tracked and speared a horse which was eaten experimentally, an account
that appears to be in accord with Idriess’s observation: ‘One notorious blackfellow called Deven... used to spear the
horses and cut the tongue out just as a dainty morsel, disdaining the remainder of the carcass.’ Grant also told of an
incident in which a white policeman’s fingers were chopped by a hatchet, attributing this to Nemarluk, incorrectly
it appears, for Idriess recounted in his two publications the same incident naming both the Aboriginal concerned
(a man called Pundek) and the policeman (a Constable Kenneth /Kennett). There appears to be a wholly authentic
present-day Aboriginal version too in The Story of Nimalak (1983), a roneoed booklet written in Nanggikorongo
illustrated with simple but quite evocative line sketches. Pye’s The Port Keats Story must be today the definitive
historical account of Nemarluk, in contrast to Idriess’s versions. As well as containing photographs of some of
the principals (Bull Bull, Smiler, Fitzer, Mankee and others) the book shows two Aboriginal bark paintings of
the attack on the lugger that may well be unique. In his summation, Pye suggested that Nemarluk’s heroic image
belied the reality and that the man was in fact unpopular among many of his Aboriginal contemporaries. Many of
the men imprisoned were released around 1942 (some were told to kill any Japanese they found on the coast) and
Nemarluk may have been among them. This is not clear.
Taken together, but leaving out the racial stereotypes, these sources offer a range of factors that must have been
dominant not only in Nemarluk’s world view but also in the lives of other Aborigines of the time. Interactions
between ‘bush blacks’ and ‘station blacks’ involved the exchange of trade items and information ranging from
tobacco, cloth, iron and other European tools to warnings about police movements. The distinction between these
two categories of Aborigines in practice was often blurred in view of what was in reality an informal and effective
spy network. Aboriginal society of the time consisted of relatively small groups that were ‘intensely loyal’ within
themselves but harboured also antagonisms against other groups and carried out retributive killings against them.
Nemarluk was aware of this divisiveness and is credited with stressing on many occasions the importance of
showing a united front against the white men.
Nemarluk and other Aborigines (and the whites certainly) were aware of the relative isolation of European
settlements and the targets they presented for surprise attacks. There were no illusions on either side that the prime
cause of these disputes was the white settlement and exploitation of Aboriginal lands (though plenty of white
apologists justified frontier violence with ‘survival of the fittest’ arguments).
There is finally a whole range of Aboriginal resistance practices including the use or potential use of firearms
(Nemarluk appears not to have done this), the killing of station livestock not always for food, and the successful
ambush and killing of lone whites and other non-Aborigines.
The year of Nemarluk’s death was probably around 1942. In Man Tracks (1935) the author’s closing words
read: ‘When I saw him last in Fanny Bay gaol he was laughing again, with his hair cut and his beard shaved off, and
good solid flesh on his ribs.’ In sharp contrast the last words of the book Nemarluk (1946) state briefly, Nemarluk
died, only recently. Died of a broken heart.’ Pye’s note about the release of Aboriginal prisoners in 1942 may imply
Nemarluk’s death by this time in its failure to mention him specifically.
Aboriginal bandits are not usually described at length in the popular histories and outback travel stories of
the first half of this twentieth century. If it were not for Idriess’s pen and the relatively full account given by Pye,
we would know precious little about Nemarluk. It is evident too that an oral tradition remains concerning his
exploits.
In the Darwin suburb of Bagot and close to the Bagot Aboriginal Community is Nemarluk Drive. Other streets
there are named after Aborigines, one for Bul Bul the tracker who arrested Nemarluk. And in the same block
bounding the Community is Fitzer Drive named after Mounted Constable Tas Fitzer who was an associate
of Langdon at Timber Creek during patrols in search of Nemarluk and other outlaws. That is how Europeans
remember people like Nemarluk.
S Downer, Patrol Indefinite, 1963; V Hall, Outback Policeman, 1970; I Idriess, Man Tracks, 1935; I Idriess, Nemarluk, 1946; D Lockwood,
The Front Door, 1969; B Parry, The Story of Nimalak (transcribed and layout by Nick Reid, drawings by Alan Ariyu), 1983; J Pye, The Port
Keats Story, 1973; B Shaw, My Country of the Pelican Dreaming, 1981; W E H Stanner, White Man Got No Dreaming, 1979; N Tindale,
Aboriginal Tribes of Australia, 1974; B Cummins, ‘The Black War’, Walkabout, September, 1973; M Durack, ‘Outlaws of the north’, Daily
News, 1 October, 1932.
BRUCE SHAW, Vol 1.
NGAPUNUN, (SPIDER) (c1905–1977), Bamyili tribal elder, was born at Bulman River in the Northern Territory
into the Ngalkben tribe. His father was Gojok of the Rembarranga tribe and his mother, Wamutjan of the Ngalkben/