Cirrus@Austlit

'The narrative that follows was written in about 1967 when I had interviewed Narritjin in Darwin about his wartime experiences and in particular the sinking of the Patricia Cam. The late Nanitjin Maymum, of Yirrkala and Djaragbi (Cape Shield), was probably about 30 years old at the time of the sinking and in his mid-fifties when he told me the story. The words used are not his but the story is all his: the facts are recorded as he gave them in answer to my questions. Additional information, drawn mainly from the official war history account of the incident, is given in parenthesis. I have similarly added some details from Thornell's account of the story Narritjin told when he returned to Yirrkala in February 1943; his account has far more detail about the bombing of the vessel than Narritjin gave me, but much less about Narritjin's efforts to get help for the survivors.' (Source: Abstract)