The Spear the Cross and the Gun
What is more worthwhile in life than in giving a helping hand, just to satisfy that need within oneself to do some good towards others? No matter what belief, faith, or religion one has, there is something special in giving one’s own time, whether privately, publicly, or in the workplace, to assist those around us—in this case, the Yolngu.
In 2009, we began researching the history of Milingimbi since the arrival of the missionaries. is resulted in a large amount of information, too large for one book. We compiled the written content about the military history of Milingimbi into The Spear and the Gun, which is about Yolngu history and the war e‑ ort on the island of Milingimbi during the 1940s, and some information in that book was based on our experiences with, and records of, the Methodist Overseas Mission, which remained on the island until 1972. is was published in 2017. Then between 2017 and 2019, we compiled the rest of the material we had gathered into this second book, The Spear, the Cross, and the Gun.
The Spear and the Gun was published with the blessings of the Walamangu landowners. The East Arnhem Regional Council purchased one hundred books from me and distributed them throughout North-East Arnhem Land Yolngu communities. The Royal Flying Doctor Service purchased one hundred books and offered them for sale. Libraries and businesses in the Territory and elsewhere in Australia also purchased copies of that book.
We completed writing and compiling this book in 2019.
It has been an honour for us to document some of Milingimbi’s history since the arrival of the Balanda with the Methodist Overseas Mission, and to recall and present our own life experiences and research about our people, both Yolngu and Balanda at Milingimbi. We hope this book will bring back to life some of the Christian spirit that we both witnessed in people’s lives on the mission station during the early days.
Our lives become richer by hearing about the experiences of people of different cultures who have been involved with the Yolngu at Milingimbi; those peoples include the Macassan, Dutch, English, Torres Strait Islander, Fijian, Tongan, and Japanese, from countries such as Indonesia, the Netherlands, England, the Torres Straits, the Pacic, and North-East Asia. We hope we have not been insensitive in intruding, through our research, into others’ personal lives or workplaces.