The Pacific theatre of World War II saw the Japanese military aerial bombing Darwin in February 1942. Non-indigenous children from the island were evacuated. To avoid the bombing, missionary Margaret Somerville led 95 indigenous children from the island's orphanage, part of the Croker Island Mission, on a journey that saw the party arrive on the Australian mainland. Travelling a distance overland, they boarding a train through central Australia, arriving in Sydney, New South Wales. Over forty-four days, the group covered . The children returned to Croker Island in 1946.