Donald Thomson - Caledon Bay Crisis

Caledon Bay Crisis

In 1932-33, as the Caledon Bay crisis erupted, Thomson offered his services to the Australian Government to resolve the crisis, and to the surprise of the government succeeded in doing so. His success had long-term ramifications for the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and is regarded as the crowning achievement of his life.

He formed a strong bond with the Yolngu people, studying their traditional use of the land in the Arafura Swamp and elsewhere. In 1941 he persuaded the Army to establish a Special Reconnaissance Force of Yolngu men, including tribal elder Wonggu and his sons, to help repel Japanese raids on the northern coastline of Australia.

In 1942, as the war moved northward from the Australian coast, the Special Reconnaissance Force was disbanded, and Thomson returned to the Air Force. He was badly injured in action in Dutch New Guinea, and spent the rest of the war in hospital before being discharged from the Armed Forces.