In 1966, six Tongan teenage boys who were attending a boarding school decided to run away on a stolen boat. They aimed to sail to Fiji, but a storm wrecked their boat and left them stranded on the uninhabited island of 'Ata (Ata).

Fifteen months later, Australian lobster fisherman Peter Warner found them alive and well, leading to worldwide attention on their remarkable survival feat. They became known as the "Tongan castaways."

This story was big news at the time, prompting Sydney-based photographer John Carnemolla to be dispatched to the island alongside the boys to capture how they'd been living.