Matthias Ulungura was emulating John Wayne when he crept up behind a Japanese Zero pilot in 1942, stuck the end of his axe into the pilot’s back and said: “Stick em up.”
The pilot, Hajime Toyoshima, was taking part in the raid that bombed Darwin and killed hundreds, but his plane was shot over Melville Island 80km to the north, forcing him to crash land.
Captured by Ulungura, Toyoshima became the first Japanese prisoner of war taken on Australian soil.
This week dozens of Ulungura’s family, including nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, gathered in the grounds of the old mission church outside the radio shack where missionary Father John McGrath sent his infamously ignored warning of the incoming Japanese air raid: “An unusually large air formation bearing down on us from the north-west.”
Ulungara’s family joined the launch of the Territory Remembers program, a suite of projects to honour the Northern Territory’s military history before the 75th anniversary of the bombing. The chief minister, Adam Giles, came to Bathurst Island to announce the construction of a statue commemorating Ulungura’s act.
Ulungura was among the many Indigenous men and women involved in the war effort who had little recognition, were not considered citizens by the government and were subject to brutal discrimination.
In 1985 the government erected a plaque in honour of Ulungura, and on Tuesday dozens of people turned out to hear about the forthcoming new bronze statue. They mingled in the shade near the Apsley Strait separating the two islands of Tiwi while the politicians did the meet and greet, and council workers prepared a barbecue.
Across the water, the former homes of Ulungura and some of the older people at the launch were visible through the trees. Marilyn Kerinaiua used to travel by canoe – or walk if the tide was low – over the strait to the mission school. “It’s where I learned English,” she told Guardian Australia.
“We weren’t born in those days but the story was kept through the old people from one generation to another.
“He put his axe at his side and said, ‘Stick ’em up’ to the Japanese, and then the Japanese put his two hands up ... Back in those days they were into cowboy movies, John Wayne mob.”
Ulungura brought Toyoshima to Bathurst Island, and the Japanese soldier was sent to New South Wales and became one of the leaders of the Cowra breakout. He took his own life not long after.
“It’s really good that all Tiwi people and others recognise Matthias,” Wesley Kerinaiua said.
“We were told [about him] when we were kids, growing up and at school, but it’s good for others to know what Matthias has done, where he’s from and who he is.”
With everyone gathered under a stifling tent, Giles and the member for Arafura, Francis Kurrupuwu, stood in the sun for the official business, but were in no rush to get through the good-news announcements.
“Today we have an opportunity of pausing and reflecting on a point in time in history, a point in time in the Tiwi Islands that is important not just to Tiwi but to all of Australia and parts of the world,” Giles said.
“There’s a line in the Australian national anthem which talks about ‘on history’s page’. On the 19th of February 1942 there was an important piece of history that occurred, known commonly as the bombing of Darwin. But the people on the Tiwi knew about that before the people of Darwin.
“It’s an important story that not all Australians and not all Territorians know. I think people should know.”
Giles stressed the importance of the statue depicting Ulungura’s act being on his home land, and not at Darwin’s established cenotaph memorial.
At the end of the speeches, the men and women performed two dances, one a traditional crocodile dreaming and the other depicting the bombing of Darwin. Kurrupuwu took up the radio using a couple of plastic cups commandeered from the barbecue and two men manned the lookout and guns, while others flew around the trio, acting out the deadly event that now forms an important part of Tiwi history.
Territory Remembers will have a program of regional community events and memorials beginning next year, including travelling displays, research projects, a national conference and the publication of a book, Forgotten Honourable Warriors, about the hundreds of Japanese airmen killed in action across northern Australia.
The Northern Territory government is providing $2.25m for the commemorations.
Alan John Kerinaiua, a local artist and family member of Ulungura, had also grown up hearing of his great-uncle’s contribution to the war, alongside the dreamtime stories from the old people.
“I imagine looking back to 1942 with the war, and I think wow – hearing stories about how the Japanese bombed this place here. Families used to tell stories around the campfire before we go to sleep,” he told Guardian Australia.
“I met a few old Spitfire pilots; I met one old man a few years ago. He was on a Tiwi tour. He was about 90 years old with some badges and he brought his grandson … He said: ‘I’ve been here when I was a young fella.’ He told me about Matthias, he knew Matthias, my mother and my grandfather, Louis Munkara.”
Munkara is believed to have captured five Japanese airmen and rescued another three from the sea.
“When mum told me stories about her father, I thought, wow, he probably went to hell, you know? But with war at the time he had to defend himself,” Kerinaiua said.
