Woman gets knocked over by peace-offering coconut when group tries to make contact with indigenous people

Even when you're trying to do a nice thing, it can backfire in truly brutal fashion.

This footage is a case in point, showing the moment a woman gets knocked over by a peace-offering coconut by a group who were trying to make contact with the indigenous people of a remote island.

The unfortunate incident unfolded at North Sentinel Island, one of the Andaman Islands and an Indian archipelago.

Other than the accidental knockdown, the experience was an overall positive one.

The footage was taken in 1991 when Trilokinath Pandit, a director of the Anthropological Survey of India, and his colleagues made contact with the Sentinelese people, who are indigenous to the island.

As is shown in the clip, the surveyors approach the region by boat as the Sentinelese head on to the beach to take a look at the visitors.

Pandit and his team throw coconuts towards the shore as a form of peace offering while men, women and children are all seen collecting them from the water.

Per Vinodh Ramesh, who uploaded the clip to YouTube, Sentinelese are the world's most isolated community.

The Indian government abandoned plans to establish contact with the island in 1997 as it could 'endanger' them to 'diseases'.

"It is vital that their wish to remain uncontacted is respected – if not, the entire community could be wiped out by diseases to which they have no immunity," said Ramesh.

YouTube/Vinodh Ramesh

Dozens of people commented on the rare footage, with one writing: "This was a precious moment. A rare, peaceful interaction with these people.

"I do agree they need to be left alone, but it's still nice to see friendly contact."

"Stuff like this is legendary [and] almost impossible to achieve," commented another.

A third added: "I really hope we just don’t touch this island, it’s such a cool thing to see these people thriving without human contact in thousands of years."

Speaking about the awkward moment of the clip, a fourth chimed in: "That coconut against the head had me in tears."

If you want to learn more about the importance of protecting indigenous people and cultures, you need only pick up a history book.

In fact, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for the truth to be taught to Australian school children about how British settlers really treated First Nations people in the wake of colonisation.

"Part of learning about our history is truth-telling as well," he told 4BC radio's breakfast program.

"And the truth is that Indigenous people suffered a lot. Not all, but many did.

Albanese's discussion of shaking up the Australian school curriculum came shortly after a chat about the Voice to Parliament, a proposed body that will advise federal parliament on matters concerning Indigenous people.

Xinhua/Alamy Stock Photo

Albanese, who has openly said in the past that he wants Australia to become a republic, revealed to the network that he was still 'waiting to have consultation' in relation to holding a referendum.

"We know how hard it is to get a referendum up. But it's a pretty simple proposition," he said.

"The Constitution is our national birth certificate. And at the moment, it pretends that nothing happened until 1788."

The PM added: "And it is good manners and also it should be a source of pride to recognise that we have shared this continent with the oldest continuous civilisation on the planet."