LONELY GULF TRAGEDY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17118, 13 April 1921, Page 10

LONELY GULF TRAGEDY.

ISLAND SETTLEMENT WIPES OUT. Aii idea of the extreme Isolation of some parts of the coastline of -Austra-' lia is given by a message, which reached the Minister for Home and Territories (Mr Poynton) in Sidney on .21st March. » The message (says the Sidney "Telegraph") came* from the Administrator of ttie Northern Territory, and gave particulars of a tremendous hurricane, which overwhelmed Vanderlinn's Island as ltfng ago as January 9th. Vanderlinn's Island is one of the fertile Sir Edward Pellew group, in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The nearest mainland settlement to the group is Booroloola, and, on the .map, the distance seems short. But the news did not reach Booroloola until February 6th, when it was sent by mail to D.arwin. That mail only reached Darwin on March 21st, and the news was immediately telegraphed on. It appears from the message that such settlement as existed on the island of Vanderlinn—which was settled on by a few white and some mainland blacks —had been practically wiped out. Buildings, gardens, and fences have been demolished, and provisions destroyed. ' The cuflter Avis was driven ashore, and battered against the mangroves until she was stove in and sunk. The Glitter's dinghy was. thrown high upon the' tops of the mangroves, and was recovered after the storm by cutting down tho'trees. Markwell and Lake were the, only two whlfe men on the island. Markwell's cutter was wrecked, and Lake became moon blind. Had it not been that the yawl Pat weathered the storm, and arrived from Thursday Island at once with provisions, the people on the bland would have starved. After the hurricane, which blew for 17 hours with great violence, the natives sejzed tha canoes and departed from the island, leaving the white peo'ple marooned. - When the was written (February 6th), Booroloola store was out of everything, and unless the Government boat arrived soon, there would be nothing left to eat. The surrounding stations were reported to be in the same position. On receipt of this information the Home and Territories Office in Melbourne communicated at once with the Administrator at Darwin, and suggested the immediate despatch to Booroloola of the vessel Albatross. It was understood that Mr Beckett, a former Melbourne journalist, with his wife and son, was on Vanderlinn Island, and the fact that the message makes no reference to them has caused some little anxiety for their safety.