An encounter with the Mandorah Monster has been provided by adventurous Darwin resident agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith .
About l979 , he was ferrying a group of Aboriginal women land owners , above, involved in the Cox Peninsula land rights claim, on a survey in his launch , Venceremos, in Spanish and Portuguese meaning We Will Overcome ,We Will Win.
The name , he thought , was inspired by the East Timor struggle, it formerly a Portuguese colony.
He was surprised when we pointed out that Venceremos was also the title of the Socialist song composed for the l970 Chilean election campaign of Salvador Allende.
Recalling the Mandorah Monster episode, he said he saw what he thought was a large rock, shaped like a head , in the sea , and the women had demanded he steer away from it , later explaining it was what amounted to the Mandorah Monster.
Near a property that ran down to the sea , a gruff person had earlier approached them. He spoke about the Mandorah Monster as if trying to frighten the women, perhaps intent on thwarting the land rights claim.
From his extensive collection, Wesley-Smith sent Little Darwin the above photo of the trip plus the remains of what are believed to be wartime parts of Darwin's submarine defence boom net.
The series shows Mandorah resident , former Northern Territory News reporter and Aussie Rules umpire , Jack Ellis, left, and author Bruce Honeywell recently examining the cluttered scene ,which includes circular concrete pieces to which the boom was thought to have been anchored.
According to Wes ,who regards himself as Honeywell's unofficial publicity officer, Bruce is working on the third novel in a trilogy to be called Arafura. He once ran a truckie magazine.
Another photograph , not shown , appeared to be of a gun emplacement at Mandorah .
