Matthias Ulungura (1921–1980) (in some sources also referred to as Matthias Ngapiatulawai) was an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

from the

Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island, Bathurst I ...

, who in 1942 became the first Australian to take a Japanese

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

on Australian soil.

The capture

Ulungura was a member of the

Tiwi people The Tiwi people (or Tunuvivi) are one of the many Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal groups of Australia. Nearly 2,000 Tiwi people live on Bathurst Island (Northern Territory), Bathurst and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Islands, ...

, who in 1942 was living on Melville Island. On 19 February, a damaged Japanese fighter returning from an attack on an aerodrome on nearby Bathurst Island crashed near Snake Bay on Melville Island. The Japanese pilot,

Hajime Toyoshima Petty Officer, Flight Petty Officer Third Class was a Japanese airman in World War II. His A6M Zero was the first of that type to be recovered relatively intact on Allied territory (after those recovered after the attack on Pearl Harbor) when he ...

, survived the crash, but Ulungura crept up behind him, surprising him with a tomahawk, and took him prisoner. In Ulungura's words: Ulungura took his prisoner to the

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

guards stationed at the Bathurst Island aerodrome, where he was transferred into their custody. Toyoshima initially used the alias of Tadao Minami and claimed he had been washed ashore in an attempt to prevent his captors from locating his downed plane, but after questioning police saw through his story and located the wreckage. The wreckage was transferred to Darwin, and Toyoshima was taken to a prisoner of war camp, where he died in 1944 during the Cowra breakout. Although Ulungura could not be enlisted because of his race (Australian military policy at the time forbade Indigenous Australians from enlisting), Corporal Moore, one of the two guards permanently stationed on Bathurst Island, took Ulungura on as his personal bodyguard and assistant.

Memorials

The government of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

in 1985 unveiled a memorial to Ulungura. The dedication for the memorial, which took the form of a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

, was attended by

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Ian Tuxworth Ian Lindsay Tuxworth (18 June 1942 – 21 January 2020) was an Australian politician, who was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia from 17 October 1984 until his resignation on 10 May 1986. Early life Tuxworth was born on 18 J ...

and

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Bob Collins. Despite Ulungura's role as the first Australian to take a Japanese prisoner of war in Australia, he remains relatively unknown. Indigenous leader

Mick Dodson Michael James Dodson is an Aboriginal Australian barrister and academic. He was Australia's first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. His brother is Pat Dod ...

has remarked that "the fact that an Aboriginal man took the first Japanese prisoner of war on Australian soil was hardly known in Australia." A life-sized bronze statue of Matthias Ulungura was erected on Bathurst Island in 2016.World War II hero Matthias Ulungura honoured with statue on Bathurst Island
''ABC News'', 25 June 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulungura, Matthias 20th-century Indigenous Australian people Tiwi Islands people Australian people of World War II 1921 births 1980 deaths