Photo discovery sparks investigation into mysterious overseas settlement 📸 | ABC Australia

The discovery of a trove of black and white photographs has sparked an international mystery involving a little-known settlement of Aboriginal Australians in Asia.

Over hundreds of years, First Nations people left to travel overseas with visiting Makassan fishermen.

And there’s growing evidence some stayed and had families in Indonesia.

The first known photographs of the community have been discovered in Italy, leading to speculation there could be a large number of descendants still living abroad.

Erin Parke travelled to Darwin to try to unravel the mystery.

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[sylviatkac]

This is my grandfather father he was 15 years old when he boarded the ship from Makmanja on Groote Eylandt to work on a lugger to collect trepang and traveled to Thursday Island PNG then Makassar .One of the boys got sick on the journey and died on board the ship and was buried in PNG the PNG people attached the Makassans with arrows as they were paddling back to their ship after burying the deceased boy . The boys are from Groote Eylandt 1 Wurramarrba and 3 Wurramara this story was told by my uncle and his sons tell the same story my grandfather told this story because his father is the boy in the photo . The Makassan collected aboriginal people from Derby and North East Arnhem . They lived in Makassar over 6 years 3 of the Wurramara traveled back to Groote but the Wurramarrba boy lived with the Makassan eventually he also returned home after many years when he smiled he had two gold teeth . This is a very long story

[TmbTmb-lrxs]

We need to teach our people for real history Makassar people who first came to Australia our first visitors before British

[drpk]

Interestingly Indonesians were a lot more civilised than Europeans in dealing with aboriginese

[urbnctrl]

The Moluccans had a long and old historical connection with Australia too, consisting of trade, marriage and politics. Dating back 1000s of years.

[kilanspeaks]

Fascinating, if only we could trace the descendants of those who married the locals in South Sulawesi. We’re all related, after all. Cheers from Indonesia! 🍻 🇮🇩

[jalbu]

How fascinating, we've always known that Aboriginal people had traded with other people's long before the British came and evidence like this proves it even further. It will be even more interesting when they find descendants. Looking forward to a follow up story. 😊

[TmbTmb-lrxs]

I'm from Arnhem land place call Nyinyikay my people been taken away at place call dhaliwuy Makassar beach man's and women's one of my youngest great grandmother was married to royal family her yolngu name was Garngarr Gurruwiwi

[banksiasong]

Fascinating this proof of early trading and social interaction between the people of Arnhem Land and the Kimberley, with the colonised people of Makassar.

[QuestionThingsUseLogic]

Well the land was joined, so it's not surprising.

[Au_Hussar]

The book Beyond Capricorn by Paul Trickett mentions this situation and he references page 74 from a book called We Won the Victory - Aborigines and outsiders on the North West coast of the Kimberly.
Hopefully this helps.

[makassar]

Dan inilah salah satu bukti konkrit bahwa Bangsa Makassar (Wajo, Luwu, Mandar, Melayu) sangat mengedepankan kemanusiaan dalam menjalin/diplomasi dg bangsa lain sebab berbeza dg propaganda2 cerita karangan Yg dibuat oleh pihak2 sekutu lokal Belanda (eropah terlemah😅) bhw mereka dijajah oleh bangsa Makassar padahal singkat.y hanyalah "kedengkian" hingga tertinggal jauh oleh bangsa Makassar

[peterk]

There's an old term used for something that closely resembles this transportation of males from one island to another. Blackbirding. None of these fellas look particularly happy to be in those photos.
Then again that's simply an interpretation. Much like any other interpretation of what transpired.

[shantelletolley]

Test them ALL! Are there any Aboriginal descendants in Makassar?

[sulselstreetfood]

I dare to make sure that the Makassar people took many women from the Aboriginal tribe as their wives and also many men from the Aboriginal tribe were brought to Makassar to be used as war troops in the era of the Gowa kingdom, and also why the population of Arnhem Land is small because maybe many of the population lives in Makassar and the surrounding districts and have married people there. I dare to make sure that if parents were born in 1900-1950 I am sure they have 20-30% Aboriginal DNA. In the past, North Australia was a paradise for the Makassar people to find sea cucumbers which had high economic value, since the Portuguese and British controlled Australia, the Makassar people were the first to live in this place in 1600-1650, until when the British controlled Australia all in 1800-1900 the Makassar people had lost their trade territory in Australia, and the Aboriginal people who had married the Makassar people remained in Makassar. In the past, the Makassarese did not colonize Australia but approached them by intermarrying so that the Australian region would become part of the Gowa kingdom at that time. Where the Makassarese controlled the region, these people would definitely be intermarried or their people would be brought to Makassar.