Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory
Encyclopedia
Gove Peninsula
The Gove Peninsula is at the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The peninsula became strategically important during World War II when an airforce base was constructed at what is now Gove Airport. The peninsula was named after Pilot Officer William Gove, who...
in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
when a bauxite
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
and deep water port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
were established nearby in the late 1960s. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Nhulunbuy had a population of 4,112.
This area in Northeast Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land
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 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...
has been home to the Yolngu
Yolngu
The Yolngu or Yolŋu are an Indigenous Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means “person” in the Yolŋu languages.-Yolŋu law:...
Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
people for at least 40,000 years.
Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
and Co-Captain Lennon Steele, in his circumnavigation
Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
of Australia in 1803, met the Macassan trading fleet near present-day Nhulunbuy, an encounter that led to the establishment of settlements on Melville Island
Melville Island
Melville Island may refer to:Australia* Melville Island , in the Northern TerritoryCanada* Melville Island , in northern Canada...
and the Coburg Peninsula. A beach close to the township is named Macassan Beach in honour of this encounter.
In 1963, a Federal government decision excised part of the land for a bauxite mine to be operated by the North Australian Bauxite and Alumina Company (Nabalco — now Alcan — now Rio Tinto Alcan). The Yolngu aborigines at Yirrkala
Yirrkala, Northern Territory
Yirrkala is a well-known indigenous community in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, at , 18 km South-East from the large mining town of Nhulunbuy...
were strongly opposed, and forwarded a bark petition
Yirrkala bark petitions
The Yirrkala bark petitions 1963 are historic Australian documents that were the first traditional documents prepared by Indigenous Australians that were recognised by the Australian Parliament, and are thus the first documentary recognition of Indigenous people in Australian law.Wali Wunungmurra,...
to the Australian House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
, which attracted national and international attention and which now hangs in Parliament House, Canberra
Parliament House, Canberra
Parliament House is the meeting facility of the Parliament of Australia located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. The building was designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and opened on 1988 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia...
.
When the government did not change its mind, the Yolngu took their grievances to the courts in 1971, in the case of Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (the Gove land rights case
Gove land rights case
Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd, 17 FLR 141 , was the first litigation on native title in Australia. The decision of Justice Richard Blackburn ruled against the claimants on a number of issues of law and fact, rejecting the doctrine of aboriginal title in favor of terra nullius.Although Milirrpum was...
). Yolngu lost the case because Australian courts were still bound to follow the terra nullius
Terra nullius
Terra nullius is a Latin expression deriving from Roman law meaning "land belonging to no one" , which is used in international law to describe territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or over which any prior sovereign has expressly or implicitly relinquished...
principle, which did not allow for the recognition of any “prior rights” to land to Indigenous people at the time of colonisation. However, the Judge did acknowledge the claimants' ritual and economic use of the land and that they had an established system of law, paving the way for future Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia.
The town of Nhulunbuy was then established, housing the workers and their families, who were employed by the Swiss Aluminium company. The mine is now owned by Rio Tinto who acquired Alcan in 2007. At one stage there were over 100 different nationalities present. Population during the 1970s rose to approximately 3,500 with 1,000 students at the combined primary and high school. In 1981 a new high school was opened.
In 1999, the first classes of the Nhulunbuy Christian College were held at the local TAFE centre, and in 2001 the first building of the new school was completed. In 2007, the NCS Middle School was opened and in 2008 the yr 8/9 Class was first established.
The town drew people from all over Australia and the world who quickly settled into the Northern Territory way of life-relaxed and informal.
Permits are required to drive to Nhulunbuy — over 700 km of unsealed roads — so most supplies and visitors are brought by air to Gove Airport
Gove Airport
All flights are met by a shuttle bus connecting to Nhulunbuy.- Statistics :Gove Airport was ranked 42nd in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2009-2010....
or by sea.
James Strong, who went on to be the CEO of Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
, lived in the town at one stage when he was the head of the mine and port operations. Geoff Dixon
Geoff Dixon
Geoff Dixon is an Australian corporate executive and former CEO and Managing Director of Qantas.-Qantas:...
, Strong's successor at Qantas, was also an employee.
Nhulunbuy is only 20 km from the Indigenous
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
community of Yirrkala
Yirrkala, Northern Territory
Yirrkala is a well-known indigenous community in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, at , 18 km South-East from the large mining town of Nhulunbuy...
, famous for its aboriginal art.
External links
- Gove Online — Information about Nhulunbuy and the Gove Peninsula