Qualla: Kalumburu https://qualla.com/kalumburu-western-australia en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:27 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Kalumburu https://qualla.com/kalumburu-western-australia Kalumburu: Introduction https://qualla.com/kalumburu-western-australia/ The northernmost settlement in Western Australia sits 270 kilometres from the nearest main road, reached via one of the roughest tracks on the continent, on the edge of a country so remote that the nearest hospital is a twelve-hour drive away. Kalumburu began as a Benedictine mission, became a World War II air base, was bombed by Japanese aircraft, buried its dead in the same grave, and has endured. It is home today to around 400 people, most of them Aboriginal Australians from the Wunambal and Kwini language groups.

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]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/v/6/n/kalumburu-western-australia-wp/qv6n-kalumburu-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Kalumburu: Monks in the Wilderness https://qualla.com/kalumburu-western-australia/ The Order of Saint Benedict decided in 1905 to establish a mission in the Kimberley's far north. Three years later, Benedictine monks from New Norcia founded it at Pago, near the southern end of Napier Broome Bay, about twenty kilometres from the current site. Water supply proble...

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]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/v/6/n/kalumburu-western-australia-wp/qv6n-kalumburu-monks-in-the-wilderness.mp3 0:06 2 full Kalumburu: A Frontline Base https://qualla.com/kalumburu-western-australia/ When World War II reached the Pacific, Kalumburu was transformed almost overnight. The Australian government commissioned an airfield at the mission, and after Japanese forces occupied the Dutch East Indies in 1942, Drysdale River became a frontline Royal Australian Air Force bas...

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]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/v/6/n/kalumburu-western-australia-wp/qv6n-kalumburu-a-frontline-base.mp3 0:06 3 full Kalumburu: The Bombing of September 1943 https://qualla.com/kalumburu-western-australia/ On 27 September 1943, twenty-one Japanese Kawasaki Ki-48 bombers flew from Kupang, Timor, with a fighter escort and attacked the base and settlement. Father Thomas Gil, the mission's superior, aged 45, was killed. Five Aboriginal residents died alongside him, ranging in age from ...

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]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/v/6/n/kalumburu-western-australia-wp/qv6n-kalumburu-the-bombing-of-september-1943.mp3 0:06 4 full Kalumburu: The Community Today https://qualla.com/kalumburu-western-australia/ Kalumburu was officially renamed from Drysdale River Mission in 1951. Management of the community has since passed to the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation on behalf of the Kalumburu Community Council. The remoteness that defined the settlement in 1908 has not substantially dimini...

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]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/v/6/n/kalumburu-western-australia-wp/qv6n-kalumburu-the-community-today.mp3 0:06 5 full