In 1971, Gunter and Sylvia Hammann and three children arrived in Karumba, a small remote town in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, in a black Bedford truck and caravan. A prawn processing company was already established there, as an abundance of prawns were discovered in the Gulf. However, the family went there to gill net fish and found there was no other fisherpersons in the area when they arrived. As they now had no place to call home, the family settled on an isolated beach at the mouth of the Norman River, known as the Karumba Point, a few kilometres from the actual town. Alas, the Hammann family had no idea of the hardship that faced them.
