Wikipedia
Nemarluk (1911? – August 1940) was a fierce warrior who lived around present-day Darwin in the Northern Territory. He fought strongly against both white and Japanese intruders who had come, unasked, into his people's tribal lands.
Reported to be 6 feet 2 inches tall, he was head man of the Chul-a-mar, the "Red Band of Killers". The men close to him and most loyal were Minmara, Mankee, Mangue and Lin. People of the area who knew him, described him at this time as being "proper fighting man and funny man". When fighting, the men were always painted red. Nemarluk and his followers lived and camped mainly on the Moyle Plain, and at the mouth of Port Keats, now ( Wadeye).
One of the most famous incidents concerning Nemarluk and his men was the killing of the Japanese crew of the lugger Ouida at Injin Beach, near Port Keats in 1933. In the 1930s, he was imprisoned in Darwin's Fannie Bay Gaol. He soon managed to break out and made his escape by swimming across Darwin Harbour to the (then) remote Cox Peninsula. That was a most impressive feat as the Harbour is at least 8 kilometres wide with very strong tides, so swimming it was no mean feat without meeting a crocodile along the way.