FarewellArticle | Updated 7 years ago So many my people of Taiji there over 1000 stones there, 1000 of our ancestors. That’s three generations of Taiji men. Once a year, August, full moon time, we go to the cemetery and pray for all our ancestors. We do some ceremony in the traditional way with thousands of lanterns, incense, and Buddhist prayers. Kunihiko Kaino, Japanese head diver, 2006 It was a bad year in 1957. We lost three or four divers. The news came that the B6 was coming in with the flag at half mast. The bush wireless. There were two wives whose husbands were on the boat. We all waited, wondering who will be the widow. Pearl Hamaguchi, wife of pearl diver, 2012 Hard-hat diving is considered one of the world’s most dangerous occupations. Before the First World War, at the height of the pearling industry in Broome, up to 30 per cent of the indentured divers lost their lives from disease, cyclones or decompression illness. Official inquiries into the industry between 1912 and 1916 did not adequately address the high mortality rates of pearling workers, and their families were never compensated. Broome’s Chinese and Japanese communities continue to honour those who died with annual ceremonies, such as Hung Seng (feast of the dead) and Obon (celebratory time when the spirits return). Japanese grave at Port Hedland. Jeanne Haynes Collection, courtesy WA Maritime Museum MHA 1709/04 Ceremonies such as the Obon were annual events held during lay up season, attended by the many cultural groups and dignitaries of Broome. This photograph is c. 1920s. Bourne Collection, courtesy WA Maritime Museum MHL 659 Murakami's son Yasunosuke Francis at the Japanese Cemetery in Cossack, 1922. Courtesy Murakami Family Archives Ceremony in the Japanese section of the Broome cemetery, held in front of the obelisk commemorating the 1908 cyclone in which many people lost their lives. Bourne Collection, courtesy WA Maritime Museum MHL 198 One of the ‘lonely graves’ of a Japanese diver at Shenton Bluff, Cygnet Bay, King Sound. Such graves are mostly unknown, unprotected and located close to where the death occurred. Courtesy Sarah Yu The graves of the Japanese cemetery in Broome; most were pearling divers and tenders. Courtesy Mayu Kanamori ‹ Saltwater Cowboys Lay Up ›