The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 kmē which also covers the area of Kakadu National Park, and a population of around 16,000. The region was named by Matthew Flinders after the Dutch ship Arnhem which explored the coast in 1623.

Geography

The area extends from Port Roper on the Gulf of Carpentaria around the coast to the East Alligator River where it adjoins Kakadu National Park. The major centres are Jabiru on the Kakadu National Park border, Maningrida on the Liverpool River mouth, and Nhulunbuy (also known as Gove) in the far north-east, on the Gove Peninsula. Gove is the site of large scale Bauxite mining with an associated alumina refinery. Its administrative centre is the town of Nhulunbuy, the fourth-largest population centre in the Northern Territory.

Goyder River Crossing, Central Arnhem Highway

Demographics

Entering Arnhem Land requires visitors to first seek permission from the Northern Lands Council. Parts of the region, however, are of such deep cultural significance to the indigenous inhabitants that they are off-limits even to those with permission to travel across Arnhem Land.

The Malays and Macassans had contact with the coastal Aboriginal groups and traded with them prior to European settlement of Australia.

Art

The Aboriginal community of Yirrkala, just outside Nhulunbuy, is famous throughout the world for its bark paintings, its role in promoting the rights of Indigenous Australians, and as the place where the Yidaki, or Didgeridoo, originated.

The community of Gunbalanya, previously known as Oenpelli, in Western Arnhem Land is also famous for its bark painting.

Arnhem Land is notable for its Aboriginal rock-art, some of the finest examples of which can be found at Ubirr Rock, Injalak Hill, and in the Canon Hill area. Some of these record early presence of Europeans, sometimes in such detail that Martini-Henry rifles can be identified. Other items depicted include axes, detailed paintings of aircraft and ships. In one remote shelter, several hundred kilometres from Darwin, is a depiction of the whole wharf at Darwin, including buildings and boats, the Europeans themselves being painted, with their hats and pipes, some without hands (which they have in their trouser pockets); one human figure near the East Alligator River crossing is painted with a gun and long pigtails down his back, identifiable as one of the Chinese labourers brought to Darwin in the late 19th century.

The indigenous inhabitants also ritualistically produce temporary sand sculptures.

One Yolngu stone arrangement, at Maccasans Beach near Yirrkala, shows the layout of the Macassan praus used for Trepang fishing in the area, a legacy of Yolngu trade links with the people of Makassar on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. This trading relationship predates European settlement by some 200 years.

See also

• Kakadu National Park
• Plants Kakadu National Park
• Protected areas of the Northern Territory (Australia)
• Ubirr
• Yirrkala
• Indigenous Australians

References

• Arnhem Land. Its History and Its People. 1954. R. M. & C. H. Berndt. F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne.

External links

• Arnhem Region

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