Daguragu, previously also known as Wattie Creek by the

Gurindji people The Gurindji () are an Aboriginal Australian people of northern Australia, southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory's Victoria River region. Country The Gurindji people live on an estimated of land. The land is situated on the headw ...

as it is situated on a tributary of the Victoria River, is a locality in the

Northern Territory of Australia The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. It is located about south of the territory capital of Darwin and located about south-west of the municipal seat in

Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

. It is around north-west of

Kalkarindji Kalkarindji (formerly Wave Hill Welfare Settlement, also spelt Kalkaringi) is a town and locality in the Northern Territory of Australia, located on the Buntine Highway about south of the territory capital of Darwin and located about south o ...

. Daguragu community is situated on Aboriginal land held under perpetual title; it was also formerly a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

until its amalgamation into the

Victoria Daly Shire The Victoria Daly Regional Council is a local government area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The shire covers an area of and had a population of 3,138 in June 2018. History In October 2006 the Northern Territory Government announced ...

on 1 July 2008. In 2020, a native title claim lodged in 2016 was successfully settled, giving native title rights to the Gurindji people to of the

Wave Hill Station Wave Hill Station, most commonly referred to as Wave Hill, is a pastoral lease in the Northern Territory operating as a cattle station. The property is best known as the scene of the Wave Hill walk-off, a strike by Indigenous Australian w ...

. Being located on a

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

, the settlement can be severely affected by flooding at times. In February 2001, two cyclones caused major flooding in the vicinity and the road between Kalkarindji and Daguragu was flooded, leaving the residents of Daguragu completely isolated for weeks. In 2023 major flooding occurred again, with hundreds of residents evacuated to Darwin and unable to return to their homes for some time.

Governance

As of 2006, Daguragu Community Government Council provided "municipal and other services to the township and surrounds of

(formerly known as Wave Hill Welfare Settlement) and to Daguragu, a community settled on land under the ''

Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 The ''Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'' (ALRA) is Australian federal government legislation that provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on tradi ...

''. The total council area was about . Kalkaringi was within a gazetted township area, with the land being leasehold under the auspices of the

Northern Territory Government The Northern Territory Government is the executive branch of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory was formed in 1978 with the granting of self-government to the Territory. The Northern Territory is a territory of the Co ...

. Daguragu's boundaries and name were gazetted on 4 April 2007. It is named after the Aboriginal community located within its boundaries where in 1975, then Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

presented the title to the land granted to the

following the events of the

Wave Hill walk-off The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years. It took place at Wave Hill, a cattle stati ...

in 1966. As of 2020, it has an area of . Daguragu Community was amalgamated into the Victoria Daly Shire on 1 July 2008. Daguragu is located within the federal division of Lingiari, the territory electoral division of

Stuart Stuart may refer to: People *Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) * Clan Stuart of Bute, a Scottish clan *House of Stuart, a royal house of Scotland and England Places Australia Generally *Stuart Highway, ...

and the local government area of the

Victoria Daly Region The Victoria Daly Regional Council is a Local Government Areas of the Northern Territory, local government area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The shire covers an area of and had a population of 3,138 in June 2018. History In October ...

2020 native title claim

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty to that land by another colonising state. The requirements of proof for the recognition of ab ...

claim was lodged in 2016 by the

Central Land Council The Central Land Council (CLC) is a land council that represents the Aboriginal peoples of the southern half of the Northern Territory of Australia (NT), predominantly with regard to land issues. it is one of four land councils in the Northern ...

on behalf of the

traditional owner Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...

s, as there were mining interests in area covered by

's pastoral lease. On 8 September 2020, the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

recognised the native title rights of the Gurindji people to of the Wave Hill Station, allowing them to receive royalties as compensation from resource companies who explore the area. Justice Richard White said that the determination recognised Indigenous involvement (Jamangku, Japuwuny, Parlakuna-Parkinykarni and Yilyilyimawu peoples) with the land "at least since European settlement and probably for millennia". The court sitting took place nearly south of Darwin, and descendants of

Vincent Lingiari Vincent Lingiari (; 13 June 1908 or 1919 – 21 January 1988) was an Australian Aboriginal rights activist of the Gurindji people. In his early life he started as a stockman at Wave Hill Station, where the Aboriginal workers were given no ...

and others involved in the

celebrated the determination. The owners will participate in the mining negotiations and exploration work, from which royalties may flow in the future, which may allow people in the Kalkarindji and Daguragu communities to create their own businesses. They also have the right to hunt, gather, teach and perform cultural activities and

ceremonies A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil (secular) ceremoni ...

, and allow the young people to connect with their land.

Demographics

The

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th Census in Australia, national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was count ...

reported that Daguragu had a population of 242 people, of whom 233 () identified as

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

Heritage sites

The Wave Hill walk-off route was listed on the

Northern Territory Heritage Register The Northern Territory Heritage Register is a heritage register, being a statutory list of places in the Northern Territory of Australia that are protected by the Northern Territory statute, the '' Heritage Act 2011''. The register is maintained ...

on 23 August 2006 and on the

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

on 9 August 2007. There are also seven other associated sites on the National Heritage List, of which five are in the Kalkaringi area and two within Daguragu.

Geography and flooding

Daguragu is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

located about south of the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, and about south-west of the municipal seat in Katherine. It lies around north-west of Kalkarindji. The settlement was formerly also known as Wattie Creek by the local Gurindji people. Wattie Creek is a major tributary of the Victoria River, and Daguragu lies on its

. It can be prone to flooding when extreme weather events occur. In February 2001, ex-tropical cyclones Winsome and Wylva caused major flooding in the vicinity, and although properties in Daguragu were not indundated (as they were in Kalkarindji), the road between the two communities was flooded and the residents of Daguragu were completely isolated for weeks.

2023 flooding

In late February to early March 2023, heavy rains fell over the area, with Kalkarindji recording of rain in the 24 hours to 1 March. The upper Victoria River exceeded major flood levels, standing at ; the major flood stage is . Evacuations were ordered for residents of Daguragu, Kalkarindji, Pigeon Hole, and

Palumpa Nganmarriyanga, formerly known as Palumpa, is an Aboriginal community in the Daly River region of the Northern Territory, Australia. History Nganmarriyanga is an Aboriginal community that was originally established as Palumpa, the name of an ...

. An emergency was declared for district. First, Daguaragu and Pigeon Hole were fully evacuated to Kalkarindji, whence two aeroplanes of the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

carried evacuees out of Kalkarindji to Katherine. They then travelled by bus to Darwin, to be accommodated at the Centre of National Resilience in Howard Springs. On 7 March it was reported that it could be a month or longer before residents of some communities would be able to return home, as many houses and infrastructure had been so severely damaged by the floodwaters. Around 700 people had been evacuated, while 80 to 100 dogs had been left behind. Contractors later delivered food to the dogs.