In the remote Roper River region of the Northern Territory more than 120 years ago, an Alawa man committed an act of such exceptional bravery that a King took notice.
Ayaiga had been arrested for stealing from one of the vast cattle stations established on traditional Alawa Country. The heavyweight boxing champion of the Australian Police, Constable William Francis Johns, was bringing him in to Leichhardt's Bar Police Station the constable on horseback, with Ayaiga, manacled by the neck, attempting to keep up on foot. Johns foolishly attempted to cross a flooded creek and was knocked unconscious when his panicked horse kicked him in the head. Ayaiga, burdened by his heavy chain, heroically saved Johns from drowning and remained by the constable's side as he recovered.
Ayaiga became one of only 8 Australian recipients and the only Indigenous recipient of the Albert Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life.
