Yalangbara is a coastal area in the East Arnhem (Miwatj) region of Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, around south of

Nhulunbuy Nhulunbuy () is a township that is the sixth largest population centre in the Northern Territory of Australia. Nhulunbuy was created on the Gove Peninsula in north-east Arnhem Land when a bauxite mine and a deep water port were established ...

, the largest town in the area. It is on the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

of the

Rirratjingu The Dangu (Dhaŋu, Dhangu) are an Aboriginal Australian people of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory, one of many Yolŋu peoples. They are, according to Norman Tindale, to be carefully distinguished from the Djaŋu. Two prominent clans of ...

clan of the

Yolŋu The Yolngu or Yolŋu () are an aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. ''Yolngu'' means "person" in the Yolŋu languages. The terms Murngin, Wulamba, Yalnumata, M ...

people, and is one of the most significant cultural areas for the Yolŋu because of its role in the

creation story A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...

of the Rirratjingu clan, based on the

Djang'kawu The Djang'kawu, also spelt Djanggawul or Djan'kawu, are creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in Aboriginal Australian mytholo ...

ancestors. In Yolŋu terminology, Yalangbara is a ''yaku bathala'' (literally "big name"), a term for a general area that comprises various named localities, comprising the area south of

Yirrkala Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. Its population comprises predominantly ...

including the Yalangbara Peninsula (also known as the Port Bradshaw Peninsula or Port Bradshaw) as well as Lalawuy Bay, adjacent coastline and the nearby islands such as Wapilina Island. It covers around of land and coastal waters. However, the name can be applied to different areas, depending upon context; it may refer to the small beach site related to the

myth (see below), or the whole eastern side of the peninsula.

Geography

Yalangbara covers around of almost untouched land and coastal waters. It lies around south of Nhulunbuy, the largest town in East Arnhem Land. The main beach, known as Yalangbara beach (or just Yalangbara, depending on context), is a white sand beach located on Yalangbara Peninsula (also known as the Port Bradshaw Peninsula or Cape Arnhem Peninsula) and faces east into the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

. The community of Bawaka is also located on this peninsula. The area is dominated by one of the largest coastal dune systems in the Northern Territory, at long, up to wide, from to high, running down the centre of the peninsula. Access is via a bush track from Yirrkala.

Aboriginal significance

Yalangbara lies within the country of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolŋu people. In Yolŋu terminology, Yalangbara is a ''yaku bathala'' (literally "big name"), a term for a general area that comprises various named localities, comprising the area south of

including the Yalangbara Peninsula, aka Port Bradshaw (Peninsula) as well as the nearby islands, Lalawuy Bay and adjacent coastline. Yalangbara beach is important as the first site the mythical

siblings, two female and one male, reached on the Australian mainland. The sisters were the custodians of

ceremonial law The Ritual Decalogue is a list of laws at . These laws are similar to the Covenant Code and are followed by the phrase "ten commandments" ( he, עשרת הדברים ', in ). Although the phrase "Ten Commandments" has traditionally been interpret ...

, and carried with them their

digging stick A digging stick, sometimes called a yam stick, is a wooden implement used primarily by subsistence-based cultures to dig out underground food such as roots and tubers, tilling the soil, or burrowing animals and anthills. It is a term used in ar ...

s (''mawalan''), feathered

headwear Headgear, headwear, or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, de ...

and sacred objects hidden in their basket and mats. The objects changed into various

landform A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, ...

s along their route, and they created

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

wells at Yalangbara by plunging their

s into the sand, after which the digging sticks turned into a variety of plant species. There is still freshwater to be found under the sandy beach, and is believed to have healing properties. A site known as Balma, high among the

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

s, is of particular significance as it was here that the Djang'kawu sisters gave birth to the first of the Rirratjingu clan. Access to this site is restricted. From Yalangbara the Djang'kawu travelled west, establishing the Dhuwa moiety of the Yolŋu people. The Marika family, who trace their ancestry to the original Dhuwa moiety, are the

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the land, and they manage the area's rich

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

. They are also custodians of Djang’kawu law, which is expressed in ritual ceremonies and art. Many members of the family started producing paintings when they lived at the Yirrkala mission from 1935 onwards. The ''Yalangbara: art of the Djang’kawu'' touring exhibition, instigated by

Banduk Marika Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika (13 October 1954 – 12 July 2021) was an artist and printmaker from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. She was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people, whose traditional land is Yalangba ...

and developed with the assistance of other family members and the

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) is the main museum in the Northern Territory. The museum is located in the inner Darwin suburb of Fannie Bay. The MAGNT is governed by the Board of the Museum and Art Gallery of the ...

at Darwin, opened at the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

from 7 December 2010. This was the first major survey exhibition of the Marikas' work, and covers around 50 named sites in the Yalangbara peninsula that were traversed by the Djang’kawu journey. It followed a 2008 monograph of the same name, edited by Margie West and produced in partnership with Banduk Marika and other members of the family.

Heritage listing

Yalangbara was registered as an

Aboriginal sacred site Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

with the NT's

Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority The Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) is an independent statutory authority established under the ''Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act 1989''. Its function is to protect Aboriginal sacred sites within the Northern Territory ...

in 1983. Thanks to the work of Banduk Marika, her nephew

Mawalan 2 Marika Mawalan Marika (born 1957), also referred to as Mawalan 2 Marika to distinguish from his grandfather Mawalan 1 Marika (1908-1967), is a Yolngu artist and land custodian of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is the son of we ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Geoffrey Bradshaw and others, which included a detailed heritage assessment (2000), Yalangbara was included for listing on the

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

in 2003. The Register of the National Estate was frozen in 2007, and Yalangbara is not yet actually listed under the superseding

Commonwealth Heritage List The Commonwealth Heritage List is a heritage register established in 2003, which lists places under the control of the Australian government, on land or in waters directly owned by the Crown (in Australia, the Crown in right of the Commonwealth ...

. Under the

EPBC Act The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...

, the Minister for the Environment "determines which places the

Australian Heritage Council The Australian Heritage Council is the principal adviser to the Australian Government on heritage matters. It was established on 19 February 2004 by the ''Australian Heritage Council Act 2003''. The Council replaced the Australian Heritage Commis ...

will assess for the

National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...

and Commonwealth Heritage List", and it has been listed for assessment by 30 June 2022. It was added to the "Finalised Priority Assessment List for the National Heritage List for 2018-19", with the area being defined as from Bawaka Road to Port Bradshaw, south of Yirrkala. Its reasons for inclusion are described as follows: CC-BY icon

Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)
licence. (See bottom o
this page
) "Yalangbara may have National Heritage values due to the: Yalangbara sand dunes and the Djang’kawu (Dhuwa moiety foundation story) including in the history and iconography of the Aboriginal land rights movement ( Gove case 1963); the importance of the Makassan sites on Wapilina Island in the Yalangbara Peninsula; and the Carpets Case (1993) to protect the

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

of Aboriginal artists' rights from the unauthorised reproduction of traditional Aboriginal designs."

Flora and fauna

The sea provides habitat for

rays Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

, trepang/beche-de-mer,

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been listed ...

s and many species of fish. There are significant populations of bridled and

roseate tern The roseate tern (''Sterna dougallii'') is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name ''Sterna'' is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific ''dougallii'' refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDoug ...

s and many other

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

Threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

including three plant, fourteen

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

and one

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

species have been recorded at Yalangbara.

Footnotes

References

{{reflist Arnhem Land