Fallen but not forgotten; in a sacred ceremony on the shores of Darwin Harbour the lives of three marines have been remembered.
In August 2023, the US marines were killed after a military aircraft crashed over the Tiwi Islands, 80km north of Darwin, during a training exercise.
It grounded the exercise and sent shock waves through both the defence and Tiwi communities, but the tragedy has sparked a unique exchange between foreign allies and one of the oldest living cultures.
On Thursday, Tiwi elders gifted the families of the fallen marines skin names - Rakijarrini, Purnalijimirri and Piliyamayuwu - in a ceremony that welcomed the grieving parents into Tiwi culture and kinship, attended by both US marines and Australian troops.
“This sacred ceremony is deeply private, intended for family only, and is considered the most important ceremony in a person’s life," said Major Adam White of the Australian Defence Force's northern command.
“We don’t use their names, but rather big brother, little brother and little sister."
In Tiwi culture death does not exist; instead there is an afterlife.
Pukumani is the name for a Tiwi ceremony that prepares a person to move from the living world into the spiritual.
After the MV-22 Osprey aircraft crashed just inland of the local school on Melville Island, Tiwi elders began the 12-month-long ceremony.
Now a year later, that will conclude with families returning to the crash site to place three hand-carved totem poles in the ground, one for each marine.
“This will be the place of their eternal rest,” said Mantiyupwi woman Jennifer Ullungura Clancy.
“This is a sad, special occasion for the family … and the Tiwi people.
“This is when they say their last goodbyes to their loved ones.”
Ms Clancy said the crash impacted everyone in the Tiwi community at the time.
“They can grieve on their own. And then we do it together as well,” she said.
“And we are family, like we told them, we are family, (does not matter) what nationality you come from, we are still one, one people, no matter what colour we are, one people.”
Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Hall, who has worked as a liaison between Tiwi and the ADF for the past year preparing the ceremony, told reporters that parts of it had never been shared with the military before.
"Earlier this week, we did a spiritual walk across the four bases to prepare older brother, little brother, little sister for their journey," she said.
"We've never done that, and so this week has been about new starts and new journeys and new friendships and new family."
The US Marine Rotational Force will leave Darwin on October 3 after completing a six-month deployment in the Northern Territory.
