North coastal Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia

Photos from the Real AUSTRALIA

Central Northern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

Arnhem Land, the huge Aboriginal Reserve at the Top End of the Northern Territory is home to people speaking a large number of different languages. An example is the large community of Maningrida, approximately 360 km east of Darwin by air and 270 km west of Nhulunbuy (Gove), at the mouth of the Liverpool River on the Arafura Sea coast. At least ten languages are spoken here and the local school has bilingual programs for two of those: Ndjébbana, the language of the Kunabidji (Gunavidji) people, whose ancestral lands are here, and Burarra, a language of people whose origins are further east, near Milingimbi, but who have made their home here as well.

Maningrida started as a trading post, established in 1947 at Manayingkarírra on Kunabidji land. In May 1957 it became a "Government Welfare Settlement" and the "Balanda" (whites) who had trouble pronouncing the name, called it Maningrida. In 1972 the Homeland Centre Movement started where people returned to their ancestral lands: they had always lived in small clan groups rather than in a large community, where tensions might arise.

This is a land where traditional life is paramount and ceremonies are an important part of life. Maningrida is now, as all Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, administered by its own Council. And there are now more than 12 Homeland Centres in a radius of around 70 km around Maningrida, where clans have returned to live on their ancestral lands. Most of these Homelands have a few houses, satellite telephone and a small school where children are taught by assistant teachers with regular visits by qualified teachers (using four-wheel drive vehicles and sometimes even small aircraft) from Maningrida. There are altogether more than 200 children in the homeland schools but these numbers fluctuate with the ceremonial and seasonal cycles of the year.

If you like to see a photo full size, just click on it;
you can then send it as a postcard by filling in the form underneath it.