Kununurra Museum

In 2017 visit Kununurra Museum to see the Wirraway-Challenge Display or view it on YouTube (link below)

March 20th 2017 will mark 75 years since the forced landing of Wirraway A20-62, on the far north Kimberley NT-border coastal saltmarsh after engine failure over the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. From an East Kimberley at war, comes a story of survival of two RAAF 12 Squadron pilots who force-landed Wirraway A20-62 on March 20th 1942, and subsequent rescue by Charlie Pretlove and four Aboriginal stockmen form Carlton Hill Station.

In 2005 (on March 20th when they got the pilot, Lew Dwyer to Kununurra to open the display, he was pleased to meet descendants of those Aboriginal stockmen who had gone out on horseback to rescue them. The rescuers in 1942 were Waddi Boyoi (Head Stockman), his brother Joe, Grant Njabidg [and George Carlton]. Just weeks after Darwin`s first air-raid, this was the same day as air-raids on Broome and Derby, so their forced-landing may have been a blessing in disguise, as their mission to Drysdale (River Mission), may have meant an encounter with the enemy.

March 20th - Wirraway-Challenge Day (annually) at the Kununurra Museum, run by the Kununurra Historical Society. [Wirraway means Challenge!]