The first impression that any stranger must receive in a fully organised group in Eastern Arnhem land is of industry. He cannot fail to see that everybody, man or woman, works hard, and that the work is well organised and runs smoothly. And he must also be impressed by the fact that... there is no idleness . Even the younger men are engaged fully in hunting and fishing activities and work hard, in marked contrast with the conditions in similar groups close to the white settlement, where the organisation is breaking down. Neither men nor women are idle for long and even in camp as they sit around their fires them may be seen to pick up a basket, a fish net, a spear or other weapon, and work at this as they talk, just as they did when they halted at midday to rest and to cook food. Yet there is no feeling of haste, but rather of method, of system and order.
What are the drives, the incentives which lie behind all this organisation? Why does it move so smoothly, and what induces the people to work hard, so willingly, without any apparent direction, control or authority?
Donald Thomson, 1949 cited in Bob Baker, The Spear and the Gun Japanese Attacks on Arnhem Land: A Wartime History of Milingimbi 1942-1945, Bob Baker/Avenmore Books, 2017, p28
