Japanese Zeros attacking Dutch Seaplanes - Roebuck Bay 1942

This painting 'Japanese Zeroes Attacking Dutch Seaplanes - Roebuck Bay 1942' is a visual account of Jack Dale's experience of the bombing of Broome on 3 March 1942. Dale was a young man at the time and had been working as a stockman in the area. He commented 'I was in Broome looking after a mob of cattle for the boat. I was twenty something. A bloke was yelling on the loudspeaker "the Japs are coming". The planes all came in at the same time. They had the red circle and the propeller on the front. They shot at the town first and then they got the water planes in the bay. They came back and shot at me and some poor buggers swimming in the bay. My mate Jim Kelly got his head shot off. He was running to get the battery to start up the truck I was hiding under. We just wanted to get out of there. There was bullets, bombs, everything. A lot of poor buggers got killed and drowned.'

Jack Dale Mengenen (c1922-2013) was a highly respected Elder and artist of the Ngarinyin people from the West Kimberley region. He was one of few to possess a complete knowledge of the Narrungunni, the rituals, law and culture of his people. It was not until his late 70's that he took up painting as his primary method of knowledge sharing, and he used it to record aspects of his own cultural history as well as personal memories.