Arrarbi

While he helped to interpret the designs of these artefacts for his European employer, he was not judged by local elders to be guilty of the theft itself, and escaped the death penalty meted out to another Aboriginal man who had led the party to the objects.

For the next few years police tried unsuccessfully to arrest him while Arrarbi made a series of daring escapes as he continued to live by his wits in the rugged country around what is now the south western part of the Northern Territory.

His life is interesting also for demonstrating the difficulty Central Australian Aboriginal people faced in navigating the changes brought by European invasion of their lands.

Constable Cowle regarded him as a scoundrel, but anthropologist Baldwin Spencer, who also had contact with him, sympathized with Arrarbi and looked upon him as a hero for his people.

In that sense, his life reflects the challenges faced by Aboriginal people of the region during that time, as their traditional lands and water sources were occupied by European cattlemen.