By Deb Sorensen
Arnhem Land: The name conjures up images of a majestic landscape, remote wilderness with special places known only by the descendants of peoples who have dwelt there for tens of thousands of years. Many of us have seen footage of Arnhem Land taken by film crews in light aircraft and dubbed over with the haunting and ancient strains of a didgeridoo.
This romantic imagery fairly much matches the reality. While European encroachment into Arnhem Land is obvious, it happened in a big way only relatively late in the piece. The impact has not been nearly so devastating on the environment and the Aboriginal peoples of this region as it has been further south.
Arnhem Land was declared an "Aboriginal reserve" in 1931, and its communities are now organised by indigenous administrators with some assistance from non-indigenous advisers. Most communities are multilingual, with a range of Aboriginal languages, maybe one or two dialects that are understood by most of those language speakers, and English. Many communities educate their children in their indigenous tongue as well as English.
As governments have realised the potential of the cultural tourist's dollar, they have thrown their weight behind promoting interest in the indigenous cultures of this region. Visitors from Germany and Japan (the two major groups of overseas tourists who visit the NT, according to the Northern Territory Tourist Commission) most often cite their desire to witness indigenous Australian culture as one of their reasons, if not their main reason, for visiting.
However, unless they have booked a tour or have the time and money to wait around in Darwin for a permit from the Northern Land Council (limited by certain criteria and by the number of visitors there at any one time), they are not likely to get in to see Arnhem Land first hand. Aside from the stress unlimited access would place on these remote communities, the limitations also serve to lessen the destructive impact tourism, especially the 4WD variety, can have on the environment.
So most visitors have to be satisfied with seeing only the surrounding attractions. That is, of course, unless they come in August. Then there is one day (plus the previous night) when you can visit Arnhem Land without having to apply and wait for a permit to come through. Every year one of the more accessible communities — Gunbalanya — holds an "open day" when outsiders can enter and visit that Arnhem community.
To get to Arnhem Land from Darwin, you have to drive through Kakadu. However, if you tell the people staffing the entry station of the National Park you are going through to the Gunbalanya Open Day, you won't have to pay the Kakadu fee. Last year, I was staffing the entry station, and saw hundreds of people through the "gate" on their way to Gunbalanya. This year I was part of the convoy.
Crossing the East Alligator River was very exciting. This river forms the border between Kakadu and Arnhem Land. There is no bridge, just a partially washed away concrete "crossing' named Cahills Crossing after one of the early European settlers. The East Alligator, because of its proximity to the coast, is a tidal river and rises and falls accordingly. We crossed in a conventional car rather than a four wheel drive and the water lapped at the bottom of the doors. There are crocodiles in this river!
On the other side stretched the flood plain and the beginnings of the famous Arnhem Land escarpment the ancient coast line. The flood plain was punctuated with billabongs which were doffed with pink, white and mauve lilies, pelicans and other bird life.
In front of us stretched the red, dusty road into Gunbalanya. In the wet season the community is totally cut off and is accessible only by air. The billabongs join to make one enormous lake. Community members tell of being able to take a boat from their doorsteps to Cahills Crossing about 20 km away. There are even stories of making it as far as Jabiru (about 60 km) by boat.
Gunbalanya itself is small — approximately 1000 residents. As in other communities, several languages are spoken, but there is also the common dialect of the Kunwinjku language. The community operates administratively in English, but at all social gatherings Kunwinjku is used. Bilingual education was introduced into the Gunbalanya school in 1974 but was discontinued in 1986 for a variety of reasons.
Throughout the day, special activities had been organised for the visitors. Bush tucker was available for sampling, tours could be taken to art sites or around the town billabong. The Western Arnhem Land football championship was contested by local and surrounding area teams. You could take a scenic flight over the area or browse over the traditional art and craft for sale.
We opted for a tour over Injalak Mountain, which forms a picturesque backdrop to the town. After a steep climb we viewed ancient rock art as well as shelters which had been used by people for thousands of years. Some of the paintings on Injalak have been dated at 20,000 years — not the oldest in this area by a long stretch, but easily as impressive.
Under one of the overhangs, the ground was covered by slivers of rock. This place had been a "spear factory" where the hunters had come to fashion spearheads by chipping off slivers of a suitable rock.
Our guide took us to one of the highest vantage points on the mountain, and we gazed out over the flood plain, down at a tiny Gunbalanya bordered on one side by its long billabong and across at a smaller rounded hill known as "goose-egg dreaming" by the locals. Legend has it that unless ceremonies are carried out by elders at a certain time of the year, the magpie geese will not lay enough eggs — a sought-after bush tucker.
After coming down from the mountain we sampled some turtle which had been cooked on the embers of an open fire. As the day drew to a close local and Darwin bands played to the hangers-on until it was time for all who didn't call Gunbalanya home to leave.
It was a hugely enjoyable and informative day — and one to look forward to next year. The only drawback was the overdone presence of the mining company Energy Resources of Australia, which owns the Ranger uranium mine near Jabiru in Kakadu and was attempting to win locals to the prospect of another mine at Jabiluka, also in Kakadu. It had its name emblazoned on everything possible.
The NT Environment Centre, based in Darwin, went some way to counteracting ERA's propaganda with a display which was solely devoted to information on the dangers of mining uranium.