Departures of note

In 1858, at age 14, Narcisse Pelletier was abandoned on the Cape York Peninsula in Australia after his ship, the Saint-Paul, struck a reef off Rossel Island. He was found by three Aboriginal women and taken in by the Uutaalnganu people, who adopted him and named him Amglo. He lived with them for 17 years, growing to manhood and being betrothed, until he was found by the crew of the pearling boat John Bell on 11 April 1875.

Pelletier always maintained that he was kidnapped, not rescued, and that he did not want to leave his Aboriginal family. He could not communicate with the English-speaking sailors and believed they would shoot him if he tried to escape. After being taken to the administrative outpost of Somerset, he reportedly made attempts to escape and had trouble at first remembering his French. His bodily markings and piercings were noted, and he apparently confided to one person that he had had three children during his stay, though this claim has never been substantiated.

After returning to France in December 1875, Pelletier was offered a job in a travelling show but firmly refused when he found out he was to be displayed as 'the huge Anglo-Australian giant.' He later worked as a lighthouse keeper near Saint-Nazaire and married a seamstress, Louise Désirée Mabileau, in 1880. He died on 28 September 1894, aged 50, with his death certificate listing his occupation as a clerk at the harbour.

A biography of Pelletier recorded after his return to France by Constant Merland contains details of the social organisation, language, beliefs, treatment of illnesses, mortuary practices, bodily decoration, dances, conflict, punishments, subsistence activities and crafts of the people who rescued and cared for him. This provides a precious insight into the way of life of these people before they had sustained contact with Europeans, and broadly agrees with present understandings of the conditions at the time by both anthropologists and modern Aboriginal residents.