Gunbalanya (Oenpelli)

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Gunbalanya (Oenpelli)"

Ernest Robert Preston
5 years ago
Views:

1 Arnhem Land

2 Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) Large community located in West Arnhem Land of approximately 1,200 people. Arnhem Land is often divided into East and West. Across all parts 8 skin names exists. The skin name given to a particular person (all community members have one) forms the basis of the relationships you can have with the other types of skin names. Traditionally the main tribes were the Mengerr, Erre, Wuningak, Gagudju and Amurdak which all spoke their own language in their tribal land. However these tribe spoke with one another through the common dialect of Kunwinjku. This is now the language spoken in the region. Migration of the traditional tribes to the current site of Gunbalanya was gradual and optional, not like in other regions in Australia. Post World War I saw the arrival of the Church Missionary Society and in 1931 Arnhem Land become Australia's largest Aboriginal reserve. The mission governed the community until the self determination policies of the 1970s. It was is this time that the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 was passed in Federal Government allowing traditional owners to claim back their land. At this time Gunbalanya became governed by its own governing council, which later became the Gunbalanya Community Government Council.

3 Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) Community Services: Primary & High School Kinder Garden Health Centre Arts Centre Heath Clinic Age Care Facility Sports and Social Club (pub) Supermarket Fuel Station Indigenous Ranger Program Police Station

4 Mamadawerre Out of the self determination movement, many traditional owners looked to move back to their traditional lands. Part of the outstation movement saw Rosemary s grandfather with a few other traditional owners move back to and establish the community. Initially this was building basic tin humpies and clearing the air strip with hand tools. Mamadawerre in the wet season become an island, is only accessible by air. As the movement back onto Country became more popular with traditional owners and more funding became available, homes, water tanks, solar panels, proper air strip and a school have been built at Mamadawerre to allow the community to live their more permanently. Not all the outstations in the area have been able to remain occupied. The vision for the Mamadawerre community is to continue to live on their traditional land and continue to practice and pass on their culture.

5 Mamadawerre Rosemary's Family Other Mamadawerre Traditional Owners Margaret (Sister) Molly (Sister) Doriene (Sister) Nolene Lazarth (Mandy's Uncle) Alfred Anderson Conrad (Husband) Carol Lorena Doriene Tyson

6 Murdudjurl Murdudjurl homeland is located in the World Heritage Kakadu National Park. The traditional owners of the area around Murdudjurl are the Bininj and the language spoken is Gaagudju. Evidence recently discovered indicated that is area has seen inhabitance for 65,000 years. This puts in questions many of the assumptions about when Aboriginal people arrived in Australia. The Kakadu National Park was established in Approximately half the park is Aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 and most of the remaining area is currently under claim. Parks lease the land off the traditional owners to be managed as a national park. Prior to this region being a National Park it was used by European settlers for buffalo hunting, grazing land and more recently mining (Ranger mine). Murdudjurl homeland was originally used by large game hunters that would fly into the homestead to trophy hunt. With changes to the law around hunting of certain species and the development of the National Park, the homestead was handed back to the Muir family as part of the Aboriginal Land Right Act Currently the homeland is looking to further develop tourism opportunities, as it is a popular and accessible area for many travellers. They currently run trips for tourists and a weekend long cultural festival. Red Earth is in partnership to help them develop this venture.

7 Murdudjurl MUIR FAMILY Jessie (Elder) Mandy Ben Zeron (Nephew) James (Nephew)

Gunbalanya Business Directory

Gunbalanya Business Directory Department of Business Phone: 08 8999 5218 http://www.dob.nt.gov.au Table of contents Table of contents... 2 About Gunbalanya... 2 Population... 2 Power and water... 2 ICT