BRENDAN TREMBATH: As the Northern Territory prepares to mark 75 years since the bombing of Darwin during World War Two, little known stories of the role of Indigenous Australians in the defence of Australia are being highlighted.

Today on the Tiwi Islands, a life-sized statue was unveiled of a local civilian who in 1942 captured the first Japanese prisoner of war on Australian soil.

The crowds who gathered to honour him today were told about the war effort of many other Tiwi Islanders.

Sara Everingham reports.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The name Magtthias Ulunura isn’t well known around Australia or even in the Northern Territory. But in February, 1942 on the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin, he captured the first Japanese prisoner of war on Australian soil. His granddaughter, Flora Tipungwuti, remembers him telling her the story of how it unfolded.