A SACRED PLACE

Few regions of the world are as shrouded in myth and mystery as Arnhem Land, so we should start our journey with the how, why, where and when story.

Arnhem Land was created to protect and preserve the last fully functioning large-scale traditional Aboriginal society in Australia. Having survived decades of merciless abuse at the hands of pirates, preachers, prospectors and pastoralists, the Yolngu people were in 1931 given relief and sanctuary with the proclamation by the Federal government of the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve, an 80,000km² refuge in what is now the Northern Territory, bounded by the Gulf of Carpentaria to the east, the East Alligator River to the west, the Arafura Sea to the north and finally the Roper River to the south.

Permits were required for Balanda (the Yolngu term for whitefellas) and other outsiders to enter. Few permits were granted, though the Yolngu still lived under the effective control of missionaries and various government agencies.

However, this policy of enforced isolation