Fishing off Nhulunbuy I uncovered the story of the two Dalby brothers in Arnhem Land who tragically had trouble keeping their heads. I told a version of this story live on Darling Downs radio 4AK.

Some of the older readers in Dalby may remember hearing about Mr. Cecil Wallace Kentish. He passed away in 1940 and for many years was a member of the Tara Shire Council, but he was much more than that.

Mr Kentish was an early settler in western Queensland. Co-operating with the Queensland Government agent in Melbourne, in 1910 he led a trek of 200 Victorians into Western Queensland, and personally guided the settlers to their selections at The Gums and South Glen in the Tara district.

Mr. Kentish had been a successful entrepreneur in Victoria. His general carrying business operated opposite the Town Hall in St. Kilda, and in just two-and-a-half years grew from one wagon to thirteen vehicles, including a range of express wagons and jinkers, and eighteen horses.

Mr Kentish’s brother Arthur Felix Kentish came with him to Queensland. In Melbourne at Kew, he had been the sole Victorian agent for the Melbourne company Rinoldi which continues today as the oldest pasta manufacturer in Australia.

Meanwhile at The Gums, one day in 1919 Mr Kentish’s youngest son Rupert faced death when coming home from school. The six-year-old fell out of a sulky and the wheel drove over his head. Bleeding started from his ears and continued all night, but it wasn’t until morning that it was thought advisable to take him to Dalby hospital. The boy survived to become a timber-cutter and cane-cutter in North Queensland, a dairy worker in Ipswich, and the member for Arnhem in the first Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.

Rupert was also a home missionary and followed his older brother The Reverend Leonard Kentish to Arnhem Land, and that’s how I came across the two of them because I’ve just come back from there myself.

Reverend Kentish was considered a brilliant scholar and was the pride of the Dalby and Tara districts. He received his primary school education at The Gums State school. Two years in a row he won the “Dalby Herald” Essay Prize at the Dalby Show, and then gained a scholarship to Dalby High School. He took honours in his High School examinations and entered the Public Service starting at the Ipswich City Council. Two years later he took up work as a home missionary, and then entered the University of Queensland where he won a further scholarship, gained honours in philosophy, and became the first Methodist minister in Queensland to earn the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. He was then posted to minister in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

Come the Second World War, while one brother Rupert was evacuated to Sydney, the other brother Reverend Kentish remained in Arnhem Land to continue his ministry, as well as clandestinely run a network of coast watchers.

On the 22nd of January 1943, Reverend Kentish on Milingimbi Island boarded the ship HMAS Patricia Cam, which was a former tuna-fishing trawler. That afternoon off Wessel Island, north of Nhulunbuy, a Japanese Navy float plane approached the ship and dropped a bomb into its open hatch. The bomb blew the bottom out of the boat, causing it to sink within a minute. All the lifeboats were shattered, leaving survivors clinging to debris.

The plane returned and dropped a second bomb. For half-an-hour it circled with its rear gunner firing at survivors in the sea. The plane landed on the water and the machine gunner opened fire again. One of the Japanese air crew then climbed onto the plane’s floats with a pistol and gestured for the men to swim closer. Kentish, being the closest, was forced inside the aircraft, which then took off, and he was never seen again.

Reverend Kentish was the only Australian captured by Japanese forces in Australia during World War Two. It wasn’t until after the war that it was discovered he had been beheaded. The Japanese perpetrator was tracked down and hanged as a war criminal.

I visited the memorial commemorating the HMAS Patricia Cam. It’s at the Nhulumbuy boat ramp heading to the sea where the events happened. It was from that boat ramp that I went fishing and we caught a load of very nice mackerel, tuna, red snapper (pictured top of page), not to mention the stack of shark and giant trevally that we threw back.

Those latter fish kept their heads, but the same couldn’t be said for the tragic story of Dalby’s Kentish family who I think deserve to be better remembered somehow here on the Darling Downs. Maybe we should have a memorial here as well.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD IN RADIO 4AK.

Photo credits:
Nhulunbuy fishing, 2025 – Harold Peacock P7172485.
Early settler in western Queensland was C.W. Kentish, Dalby, 1919 – State Library of Queensland.
Portrait of Rupert Kentish MLA – Northern Territory Library.
The Reverend Leonard Kentish – Australian War Memorial.
Patricia Cam prior to her commissioning by the Royal Australian Navy – Australian War Memorial 301155.
HMAS Patricia Cam memorial Nhulunbuy, 2025 – Harold Peacock 20250717_063913.