Elcho Island
The first Europeans only moved to Elcho Island in 1921 and then permanently in the 1940s. In 1937-1938, Constable John William Stokes of the Northern Territory Police was stationed on Elcho Island at the future site of Galiwinku as part of an effort to eliminate prostitution of Aboriginal women by visiting Japanese luggers. He established a cordial cooperative working relationship with local people (see account in the book 'The Long Arm' and his now-published diary). Later, in the 1940s, missionaries came to live side by side with, and learn from their Indigenous co-workers. Most of these were committed to learning local languages, and training those workers with skills to equip them to live within the changing world.