As part of the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin , it was announced a statue would be erected on Bathurst Island to commemorate the first capture on Australian soil of a Japanese soldier . At the time of the announcement , the Guardian Australian described the capture of Zero pilot Sergeant Hajime Toyoshima by Matthias Ulungura as having been in "John Wayne" style.
However, another report maintained Matthias, armed with a tomahawk ,demanded ," Stick 'em up , allasame 'Opalong Cassidy!"This was a reference to western movie hero Hopalong Cassidy, his films shown on mission stations and at cowboy nights in the The Star cinema, Darwin.
In his book , Australia's Pearl Harbour , journalist and author Douglas Lockwood ,wrote that it should never be forgotten that Aborigines captured the first Japanese on Australian soil. That arrest had impressed several mission educated women who did something they had never done before-they wrote descriptive letters to friends about the event. Lockwood had two of those letters ,disclosing flashes of unconscious humor,
A group of Aboriginal women looking for honey first encountered the downed pilot ,causing fear and consternation; he had picked up one of their babies.The next day, Matthias stuck the handle of the tomahawk in the back of the pilot and said ,"Hands up!"
There is no mention of Hopalong or John Wayne in the book .
Stripped to his underpants and singlet , a pistol removed ,he was then taken to Bathurst Island , handed over to the military,given some first aid and photographed above with Sergeant Leslie Powell.
The pilot died during the break out of Japanese prisoners at Cowra, NSW, internment camp on August 5, 1944.It is said he blew a bugle at the start of the break out in which four Australians and 231 Japanese died.
The ABC has produced a series about Japanese interned in the camp at Hay, New South Wales, through which Sergeant Toyoshima passed on his way to Cowra.
