ARNHEM LAND

Arnhem Land, named after a Dutch ship, that was itself named after a Dutch town, is a large Aboriginal Reserve in the far north of the Northern Territory of Australia. This is all Aboriginal land, and outsiders may only visit it with permission of the Aboriginal owners. It is a vast, wild land with breathtaking scenery but also long, sandy roads, dusty in the Dry and totally impassable in the wet season. There are small remote Aboriginal "Homeland Centres" where people have returned to live on their own ancestral land, although houses are now built and there is a water bore, often a generator, solar-powered satellite telephone and even an airstrip! Total isolation is a thing of the past, even in this vast and empty land.

Arnhem Land is home to people speaking a large number of different languages but often people are able to speak and understand often as many as five; and in Arnhem Land many of those languages are very different from each other. Although most are threatened with extinction or are already no longer spoken by the younger generation, some are still flourishing and are the everyday means of communication. The map shows the main language groups of Arnhem Land, although there are numerous other languages, many with very few speakers, that used to be spoken here.

Apart from the mainland communities of Arnhem Land there are also several permanently inhabited islands. There traditional life is still well and truly flourishing but where the Yolngu (Aboriginal) people are happy to share their culture, song and dance with the outside world.