The Massacre at Sexy Beach

Ronny with Macassan prau paintings at Dulumba Bay 1995

The Sexy People, so they say

Lived down at Dulumba Bay

Making love throughout the day

Refusing to just go away

Near the lake of dolphin dreaming

Full of barrumundi teaming

Echoes of lost people screaming

Sunbleached bones on beaches gleaming

The massacre the elders say

Took place at the break of day

But some they say got away

And live down there until today

Dulumba Bay is in the south east corner of Groote Eylandt. It is a remote and beautiful place that is rarely visited and almost never by outsiders. It was here at Sexy Beach on the shore of a magnificent turquoise coral lagoon that the Sexy People met their doom. “Why were the called the Sexy People?” “They made love constantly and openly on the beach and in the forest. They did not respect our moral code. They were bad people.”

The Sexy People were the mixed race descendents of traditional Groote Eylandt Aboriginals and visiting Macassan Trepang Fishermen. For over 600 years the Macassans would arrive in the dry season from Sulawesi in their prau’s to collect Sea Cucumbers also known as Trepang or Beche De Mer. After a few months they would leave with their prau’s loaded with tonnes of the smoked delicacy that they would trade to the Chinese. Today the Tamarind Trees around the ancient smoking pits and the ochre cave paintings of the Macassans and their praus are reminders of those days. The Macassans also left behind the hideous neurological Franz Josef genetic disease that continues to plague some Groote Eyland families.

It is difficult to know for sure when the massacre occurred but it wasn’t long ago. People I spoke to said that their grandfathers were involved and that it was a combined expedition of Elcho Island and Groote Eyland warriors. The bodies were apparently left where they fell and the bones remain on the beach to this day. This could be why people tend to avoid this haunted place. Legends abound of survivors whose descendents continue to live in the area. Not likely, but I guess possible as the place is uninhabited, heavily forested and riddled with caves. It is also a land of plenty with abundant food in the forest and the sea.

Amata Lake or Salt Lake is a land-locked tidal lake about 3 km inland from Dulumba Bay. This is the lake of Dolphin Dreaming into which giant Irrawaddi River Dolphins enter on the rising tide chasing fish through the limestone cave system connecting the lake to the sea. It was a great privilege to have been shown some of the wonders of this mysterious and inaccessible wilderness by the traditional owners.