AustLit

Sandy Cobb was born and grew up in China Camp, Burungu in Far North Queensland. His language name, Kalkadudu, means spear-through-the-toe. Because he was fair-skinned, he stayed in Burungu until he was old enough to look for work. In those days the police used to go out into communities looking for fair-skinned Aboriginal children who would then be taken away from their families and sent to the white missions at Yarrabah and Palm Island.

When Kalkadudu was old enough to work, his first employer was a white farmer named Cobb. Kalkadudu was given the surname of 'Cobb' which was the usual practice at the time and from then on Kalkadudu was also known as Sandy Cobb. Cobb is the father of Cissy Ross-Kelly (q.v.).