Alfred Okamoto

Alfred Okamoto was born in 1917 to parents Mataechi Okamoto and Elizabeth Jane Myales. His father had arrived in Western Australia from Kobe, Hyogo in Japan around the turn of the century. In the 1880s, the fish canning industry in Mandurah had begun, and the Tuckey brothers used their contacts amongst the Japanese community in the Nor’West pearling grounds to bring Japanese fishermen to Mandurah to supply the cannery with fish. The migrant workers were housed in a barracks at the back of the cannery lot. It is not yet clear if Okamoto was one of these, but he did take up fishing together with his Sons, who fished from Yunderup for many years.

Alfred was 1 of 9 siblings. He had lost an older brother who was also a Fisherman, Ernest Charles, to a tragic road accident whilst he was cycling on Mandurah Road after being hit by a utility truck in 1939.

On the afternoon of 28 January 1959, the tragic deaths by drowning of one young Irish Catholic Priest and three Irish Presentation Sisters occurred in the Peel Inlet. Alfred and his brother Joseph Okamoto, found the body of one of the nun’s about two miles off Coodanup. Shortly after this accident a rescue service was formed and a water patrol officer appointed to Mandurah.

On Tuesday 25 July 1978, Okamoto met his own tragedy. Now an experienced fisherman, he was dropping his net in the Harvey Estuary about 2.5 miles south of Yunderup canals alone. At about 4:50pm another Professional Fisherman, who was dropping nets nearby, saw Okamoto’s boat empty and travelling in a tight circle. The man dropped markers and looked for Okamoto before reporting it to Police. The Mandurah Emergency Water Rescue Group started searching with help from the Harbour and Light boat with Police on board. The search was initially called off due to poor visbility. Early on Wednesday a team of police divers worked with the rescue group and they found the body at 2:15pm in the “sticks” channel. Police believe he overbalanced and fell into the water. His wife, Mavis Jean was also listed as a” Fisherwoman” in the Mandurah Electoral rolls but she did not accompany him that day.