THE TIWI ISLANDS
Ratuwati Yinjara - Two Islands
Bathurst Island - Melville Island
Wurrumiyanga - Pirlangimpi - Milikapiti
Slaving or Speculation
Excerpt from The Native Races of the Indian Archipelago by George Windsor Earl 1853
pages 203-4 - words in bold are additions.
[On Melville Island] "This young [Tiwi] man remained at a short distance [two or three paces] took hold of his wrists and appeared as if struggling to escape from the grasp of an enemy.... this led me to imagine that the island had been visited by strangers and the natives forced away by them as slaves: in corroboration of which opinion I may add three other circumstances which came under my notice. The first is that the Malay fishermen from Makassar are forbidden to go near Melville Island[ which they call 'amba'] alleging that it is infested by pirates -probably slavers, as 'amba' in the Malay language signifies a slave. The second circumstance relates to a lad, who had been taken from a native tribe in 1825 and detained in the settlement [i.e. Fort Dundas] three or four days , when he escaped. This lad had the colour of a Malay, and possessed their features, where it is probable that he was taken when a child from a Malay slave ship or fishing proa, and reared amongst the Melville Islanders. The third circumstance is, that when Capt King RN entered Apsley Strait in 1818, and was proceeding towards the shore near Luxmore Head in his boat, a number of natives were on the beach, and a female, who entered the water in order to decoy him close to the shore, called out "Vin aca, Vin aca " ['come here' in Portuguese]. This being a Portuguese expression, induces me to believe that vessels from the Portuguese settlement of Dilhi , on the northern side of Timor might have visited Melville Island for the purpose of seizing the natives, and carrying them away as slaves."
pages 203-4 - words in bold are additions.
[On Melville Island] "This young [Tiwi] man remained at a short distance [two or three paces] took hold of his wrists and appeared as if struggling to escape from the grasp of an enemy.... this led me to imagine that the island had been visited by strangers and the natives forced away by them as slaves: in corroboration of which opinion I may add three other circumstances which came under my notice. The first is that the Malay fishermen from Makassar are forbidden to go near Melville Island[ which they call 'amba'] alleging that it is infested by pirates -probably slavers, as 'amba' in the Malay language signifies a slave. The second circumstance relates to a lad, who had been taken from a native tribe in 1825 and detained in the settlement [i.e. Fort Dundas] three or four days , when he escaped. This lad had the colour of a Malay, and possessed their features, where it is probable that he was taken when a child from a Malay slave ship or fishing proa, and reared amongst the Melville Islanders. The third circumstance is, that when Capt King RN entered Apsley Strait in 1818, and was proceeding towards the shore near Luxmore Head in his boat, a number of natives were on the beach, and a female, who entered the water in order to decoy him close to the shore, called out "Vin aca, Vin aca " ['come here' in Portuguese]. This being a Portuguese expression, induces me to believe that vessels from the Portuguese settlement of Dilhi , on the northern side of Timor might have visited Melville Island for the purpose of seizing the natives, and carrying them away as slaves."
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Campbell Map - RGS London 1834
Sources & Resources
Mountford CP - The Tiwi, their Art, Myth and Ceremony
NT Place Names Register - "The locality Tiwi Islands derives its name from the Aboriginal word used for the people of Bathurst and Melville Islands. It simply means "we people" being the plural form of the islanders' word for an island man (tini) and woman (tinga)."