DOUGLAS MAWSON

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18129, 19 July 1924, Page 13

DOUGLAS MAWSON

TALE OF LOST SHIP. REPORTED MASSACRE BY BLACKS. (BT CABMI—PBX3S ASSOCIATION copyright.) (AUST&ALIAX AND K.S. OUT.* ASSOCIATION.) {Received July 19th, 10.20 p.m.) DARWIN, July 19. An unconfirmed story of the fate of the crew and passengers of the missing Douglas Mawson is told by the crew of the ketch Maskee. They state that while they lay at Cape Wilberforce, a native informed a native member of the crew that the Douglas Mawson sank in a big storm, and that the crew and passengers, including two white women, landed. The men were speared and buried on the beach by the Blacks, and the women taken captive. It was further stated that two white men later visited the Blacks and, after taking a large sum of money (which the Blacks had taken from the stranded people after killing them) departed, telling the natives not to talk, or there would be trouble. MELBOURNE, July 19. Questioned in the House of Representatives regarding the Douglas Mawson story, Mr Bruce said that if the news were officially confirmed, an expedition would be sent to endeavour to rescue the white women from an appalling fate. [The Douglas Mawson, a wooden steamer of 333 tons burden, was engaged in the northern coastal trade of Australia. She went missing last year.]