Arnhem Land | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Australia |
| State | Northern Territory |
| Government | |
| • Territory electorate | |
| • Federal division | |
| Area | |
• Total | 97,000 km2 (37,000 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 16,230 (2007)[1] |
| • Density | 0.1673/km2 (0.4334/sq mi) |
Arnhem Land is a historical region of theNorthern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km (310 mi) from the territorial capital,Darwin. In 1623,Dutch East India Company captainWillem Joosten van Colster (or Coolsteerdt) sailed into theGulf of Carpentaria andCape Arnhem is named after his ship, theArnhem, which itself was named after the city ofArnhem in the Netherlands.
The area covers about 97,000 km2 (37,000 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 16,000, of whom 12,000 areAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Two regions are often distinguished asEast Arnhem (Land) andWest Arnhem (Land). The region's service hub isNhulunbuy, 600 km (370 mi) east of Darwin, set up in the early 1970s as a mining town forbauxite. Other major population centres areYirrkala (just outside Nhulunbuy),Gunbalanya (formerly Oenpelli),Ramingining, andManingrida.
A substantial proportion of the population, which are mostlyAboriginal, live on smalloutstations or homelands. Thisoutstation movement started in the early 1980s. Many Aboriginal groups moved to usually very small settlements on theirtraditional lands, often to escape the problems of the larger towns. These population groups have very little Western cultural influence, and Arnhem Land is arguably one of the last areas in Australia that could be seen as a completely separate country. Many of the region's leaders have called and continue to call for atreaty that would allow the Yolŋu people to operate under their own traditional laws.
In 2013–14, the entire region contributed aroundA$1.3 billion or 7 percent to the Northern Territory's gross state product, mainly throughbauxite mining.
In 2019, it was announced thatNASA had chosen Arnhem Land as the location for aspace launch facility, theArnhem Space Centre. On 27 June 2022, NASA launched the first rocket there, the first rocket launch from a commercialspaceport outside the US, and two further launches followed within weeks.
The Yolŋu culture in East Arnhem Land is possibly one of the oldest living cultures on Earth; humans are known to have inhabited the region for about 60,000 years.[2] DNA studies have confirmed that "Aboriginal Australians are one of the oldest living populations in the world, certainly the oldest outside of Africa"; their descendants left the African continent 75,000 years ago. They may have the oldest continuous culture on earth.[3] Oral histories comprising complex narratives have been passed down through hundreds of generations, and theAboriginal rock art, dated by modern techniques, shows continuity of their culture.[4]
Arnhem Land is the location of the oldest-known (as of 2010[update]) stoneaxe of its kind, which scholars believe to be 35,500 years old.[5]
Rock art depicting what may be acts of violence between people in Arnhem land has been tentatively dated to 10,000 years ago.[6]
At least since the 18th century (and probably earlier) Muslim traders fromMakassar of Sulawesi visited Arnhem Land each year to trade, harvest, and processsea cucumbers ortrepang. This marine animal is highly prized in Chinese cuisine, for folk medicine, and as anaphrodisiac.
This Makassan contact with Australia is the first recorded example of interaction between the inhabitants of the Australian continent and their Asian neighbours.[7]
This contact had a major effect on localAboriginal Australians. The Makassans exchanged goods such ascloth,tobacco,knives,rice, andalcohol for the right totrepang coastal waters and employ local labour. Makassarpidgin became alingua franca along the north coast among several indigenous Australian groups who were brought into greater contact with each other by the seafaring Makassan culture.[7]
These traders from the southwest corner ofSulawesi also introduced the wordbalanda for white people, long before western explorers set foot on the coasts of northern Australia. In Arnhem Land, the word is still widely used today to refer to white Australians. TheDutch started settling in Sulawesi Island in the early 17th century.
Archaeological remains of Makassar contact, includingtrepang processing plants (drying, smoking) from the 18th and 19th centuries, are still found at Australian locations such asPort Essington andGroote Eylandt. The Makassans also plantedtamarind trees (native toMadagascar andEast Africa).[7] After processing, thesea cucumbers were traded by the Makassans toSouthern China.
In 2014, an 18th-century Chinese coin was found in the remote area ofWessel Islands off the coast on a beach onElcho Island during a historical expedition. The coin was found near previously known Makassan trepanger fishing sites where several other Dutch coins have been discovered nearby, but never a Chinese coin. The coin was probably made in Beijing around 1735.[8]
In 1884, 10,000 square miles of Arnhem Land was sold by the colonial British government tocattle grazier,John Arthur Macartney. The property was called Florida Station and Macartney stocked it with cattle overlanded from Queensland. Monsoonal flooding, disease and strong resistance from the local Aboriginal population resulted in Florida Station being abandoned by Macartney in 1893. The first manager of the property, Jim Randell, bolted a swivel cannon to the verandah of the homestead to keep the Indigenous people away, whileJack Watson, the last manager of the property, reportedly "wiped out a lot" of "the blacks" living on the coast atBlue Mud Bay.[9][10][11]During the period of Watson's management, another large massacre is recorded to have happened at Mirki on the north coast of Florida Station. TheYolngu people today remember this massacre where many people including children were shot dead.[12][13]
From 1903 to 1908, the property rights of much of Arnhem Land were held by theEastern and African Cold Storage Supply Company. This Anglo-Australian consortium leased the region under the name of Arafuracattle station and attempted to construct a massive cattle raising and meat production industry. The company employed roving gangs of armed men to shoot the resident Aboriginal population.[14]
In 1971, theGove land rights case (Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd) was the first litigation onnative title in Australia, and the first significant legal case forAboriginal land rights in Australia.[15] The ruling was upheld by theHigh Court on 12 March 2025 where parties are entitled to a fair compensation of at mostAUD700 million.[16]
The area is fromPort Roper on the Gulf of Carpentaria around the coast to theEast Alligator River, where it adjoinsKakadu National Park. The major centres areJabiru on the Kakadu National Park border,Maningrida at theLiverpool River mouth, andNhulunbuy (also known as Gove) in the far north-east, on the Gove Peninsula. Gove is the site of large-scale bauxite mining with an associatedalumina refinery. Its administrative centre is the town of Nhulunbuy, the fourth-largest population centre in the Northern Territory.
The climate of Arnhem Land is tropical monsoon with a wet and dry season. The temperature has little seasonal variation; however, it can range from overnight lows of 15 °C (59 °F) in the dry season (April to September) to daily highs of 33 °C (91 °F) in the wet season (October to March).
In 1931, an area of 96,000 km2 (37,000 sq mi) was proclaimed as anAboriginal reserve, named Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve. As of 2007[update] the Land Trust held about 100,000 km2 (39,000 sq mi) as Aboriginal freehold land (with the exception of mining leases);[17] it remains one of the largest parcels of Aboriginal-owned land in Australia and is perhaps best known for its isolation, the art of its people, and the strong continuing traditions of its Aboriginal inhabitants.[citation needed]
Arnhem Land is composed of many different Aboriginalcountries andlanguage groups. North-east Arnhem Land is home to theYolngu people, one of the largest Indigenous groups in Australia, who have succeeded in maintaining a vigorous traditional culture, and whose name for this area is Miwatj.[18] In West Arnhem Land, large groups include theBininj people and theMaung people of theGoulburn Islands.[citation needed]
In 2018, Kathy Guthadjaka AM (also known as Gotha) was awarded 'NT Senior Australian of the Year.'[19] Guthadjaka has conducted academic research into Aboriginal languages, knowledge, and culture.[19]
In 2013–14, the entire region contributed aroundA$1.3 billion or 7% to the Northern Territory's gross state product, mainly through bauxite mining.[20]
In 2019, it was announced thatNASA had chosen Arnhem Land as the location for a space launch facility.[21] TheArnhem Space Centre was built near Nhulunbuy, employing mostly local labour, and on 27 June 2022, NASA launched the first rocket there, which was the first rocket launch from a commercialspaceport outside the US.[22] Two further launches followed, the third on 11 July. Other space companies are interested in using the rocket launch pad, and NASA confirmed that it will use the facility again in the future.[23]
The 2006 filmTen Canoes captures life in Arnhem Land through a story tapping into the Aboriginal mythic past; it was co-directed by one of the indigenous cast members. The film and the documentary about the making of the film,The Balanda and the Bark Canoes, give a remarkable testimony to the indigenous struggle to keep their culture alive – or rather revive it in the wake of considerable relative modernisation and influence of white (balanda) cultural imposition.[24][25]
High Ground (2020 film), a 2020feature film directed byStephen Maxwell Johnson, based on historical fact and reflecting the history and culture of Yolngu people, was filmed in Arnhem land.[26][27]
The Aboriginal community ofYirrkala, just outside Nhulunbuy, is internationally known forbark paintings, promoting the rights ofIndigenous Australians, and as the origin of theyidaki, ordidgeridoo. The community ofGunbalanya (previously known asOenpelli) in Western Arnhem Land is also notable for bark painting. The indigenous inhabitants also create temporarysand sculptures as part of their sacred rituals.
Arnhem Land is also notable for Aboriginalrock art, some examples of which can be found atUbirr Rock,Injalak Hill, and in theCanon Hill area. Some of these record the early years of European explorers and settlers, sometimes in such detail thatMartini–Henry rifles can be identified. They also depict axes, and detailed paintings of aircraft and ships. One remote shelter, several hundred kilometres from Darwin, has a painting of the wharf at Darwin, including building and boats, and Europeans with hats and pipes, some apparently without hands (which they have in their trouser pockets). Near the East Alligator River crossing, a figure was painted of a man carrying a gun and wearing his hair in longpigtails down his back, characteristic of the Chinese labourers brought to Darwin in the late 19th century.
One Yolngu prehistoricstone arrangement at Maccasans Beach near Yirrkala shows the layout of the Makassanpraus used fortrepang (sea cucumber) fishing in the area. This was a legacy of Yolngu trade links with the people on the Indonesian island ofSulawesi. The trading relationship antedated European settlement by some 200 years.
Aboriginal artists in Arnhem Land are primarily represented byAboriginal Art Centres, nonprofit, community-owned organisations.[28] In East Arnhem Land, primarilyYolngu Matha-speaking artists are promoted byBuku-Larrnggay Mulka in Yirrkala, Bula'bula Arts inRamingining, Elcho Island Arts and Crafts onElcho Island, Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts inGapuwiyak and Milingimbi Art and Culture onMilingimbi Island. In Central Arnhem Land, Maningrida Arts & Culture inManingrida promotes the work of a diverse range ofKuninjku,Burarra, andGurrgoni artists, amongst others. In West Arnhem Land,Injalak Arts inGunbalanya represents mainlyKunwinjku artists. Ngukurr Arts is located on theRoper River in Southern Arnhem Land. Art is also produced on the many islands of Arnhem Land, and there are art centres on theAnindilyakwa speakingGroote Eylandt (Anindilyakwa Art) and theMaung speakingGoulburn Islands (Mardbalk Arts & Crafts).
Arnhem Land is also known for embracing the homeland movement, sometimes referred to as theoutstation movement. For many decades prior to 1970, the East Arnhem Land Yolngu people lived onmission stations, such as Yirrkala. From April 1972, Yolngu families began moving away, back to their traditional clan lands. This was instigated by Yolngu people, before there was government support for the outstation movement. The people cleared land forairstrips and built their own houses from local timber, with the help of non-Indigenous people from the mission. The elders of the clans aimed to determine their own futures, basing their societies on Yolngu law, while living and raising their children on their lands in a sustainable and self-sufficient way. In 1985, Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation (LHAC), anAboriginal corporation, was established to assist the homelands.[29]
Homelands are tiny communities where members of related clan groups live on their traditional land, living according to Yolngurom (law). There are benefits to the people to be living in these homelands, including:[30]
- Homelands people have a strong connection to their land, and maintain their traditional language and cultural values. They choose to live on their traditional land to maintain this strong spiritual connection, social wellbeing, and to provide a positive future for their children and their families by staying away from widespread problems in large communities.
- By living on their traditional land, homelands people retain a degree of autonomy. They are empowered to manage their own land, resources and affairs.
- They have the power to make decisions affecting their lives, and reduce their dependence on government.
Homelands also reduce pressure on other Indigenous communities, which are already suffering from problems in the housing, health and education services areas.[30]
In the early 21st century, a focus governments about the "viability" of the homelands has caused tensions and uncertainty within the Arnhem Land community.[31]
In September 2008, then Darwin correspondent forThe Age, Lindsay Murdoch, wrote: "Elders tell of their fears that Yolngu culture and society will not survive if clans cannot continue to live on and access their land through homelands. They warn that if services are cut, many of the 800 people in the Laynhapuy homelands will be forced to move to towns such as Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula, creating new law and order problems, while those who stay will be severely disadvantaged."[32]
In response to changes made by the Northern Territory government surrounding reduced support for the homelands in 2009, the Indigenous leaderPatrick Dodson criticised the Northern Territory Government's controversial new policy on remote Aboriginal communities, describing it as a "die on the vine" plan that will "slowly but surely" kill indigenous culture.[33]
Born in the 1930s, Dr.Gawirrin Gumana AO was a leader of theDhalwangu clan, renowned for his artwork and knowledge of traditional culture and law. In May 2009, he had the following to say about the significance of the homelands to his people:[34]
- "We want to stay on our own land. We have our culture, we have our law, we have our land rights, we have our painting and carving, we have our stories from our old people, not only my people, but everyone, all Dhuwa and Yirritja, we are not making this up.
- I want you to listen to me Government.
- I know you have got the money to help our Homelands. But you also know there is money to be made from Aboriginal land.
- You should trust me, and you should help us to live here, on our land, for my people.
- I am talking for all Yolŋu now.
- So if you can't trust me Government, if you can't help me Government, come and shoot me, because I will die here before I let this happen."
Despite facing government concerns and policy confusion, a number of people have developed commercial enterprises that have centred on using the best elements of their homelands. Indigenous tourism ventures incorporating the controlled use of homelands are now showing signs of success for a select number of Yolngu.[35]
Arnhem Land travel guide from Wikivoyage| Topics |  | |
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