Kalkarindji (formerly Wave Hill Welfare Settlement, also spelt Kalkaringi) is a town and locality in the

Northern Territory 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 ...

of Australia, located on the Buntine Highway about south of the territory capital of Darwin and located about south 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 ...

History

Kalkarindji and the nearby settlement of Daguragu are the population centres of the land formerly held under the Wave Hill Cattle Station. In 1966, the Aboriginal station workers, led by

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 ...

, staged the

Gurindji strike 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 ...

, also known as the Wave Hill Walk Off, in protest against oppressive labour practices and land dispossession. A portion of land was returned to 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 ...

in by UK-based station owners, the

Vestey Group Vestey Holdings, formerly Vestey Group and previously also known as Vestey Brothers, is a privately owned United Kingdom group of companies comprising an international business focused mainly on food products and services. The company has owned ...

, after negotiations by the

Whitlam government The Whitlam government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. The government commenced when Labor defeated the McMahon government at the 1972 Australian federal elect ...

in 1975. Kalkarindji reportedly began in 1972 as the "Wave Hill Aboriginal Township". On 5 October 1976, land was associated with existing settlement was proclaimed under the Northern Territory’s Crown Lands Ordinance as a town named "Kalkaringi". In 1985, the spelling of the town’s name was changed to "Kalkarindji" after a review of the original spelling by tribal elders. As of 2006, Daguragu Community Government Council provided "municipal and other services to the township and surrounds of Kalkaringi (formerly known as Wave Hill) 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 ...

. The existing boundaries and name were gazetted by the Northern Territory Government under the ''Place Names Act'' on 4 April 2007.

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.

Freedom Day

The Freedom Day Festival celebrates 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 ...

and Gurindji culture each year in Kalkarindji.

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 ...

which was conducted in August 2016 reports that Kalkarindji had 334 people living within its boundaries of which 285 (84.8%) identified as " Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples".

Geography and flooding

Kalkarindji is located on the Buntine Highway, about south of Darwin and about south-west of the municipal seat in

. Kalkarindji is located on the left

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 ...

of the Victoria River, making it prone to flooding when extreme weather events occur. In February 2001, ex-tropical cyclones Winsome and Wylva caused major flooding, and many properties and roads in Kalkarindji were inundated.

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. 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; however, only about half of homes in Kalkarindji had been affected. Around 700 people had been evacuated, while 80 to 100 dogs had been left behind. Contractors later delivered food to the dogs. Precious artworks and historical artefacts, kept in the art centre, were saved from flood damage by moving them to safe storage.

Governance

Kalkarindji a town and locality in the

, located within the federal

division of Lingiari The Division of Lingiari () is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the Northern Territory that covers the entirety of the territory outside of the Division of Solomon, which covers Darwin, N ...

, 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 ...

. The council office for the

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of Kalkarindji/Daguragu is located in Kalkarindji, and is also the service centre for Daguragu, which is north-west of Kalkarindji, adjacent to Wattie Creek. The Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation is a

Registered Native Title Body Corporate A Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC) is a corporation nominated by a group of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people for the purposes of native title in Australia, to represent their native title rights and interests, once t ...

(RNTBC) owned by the communities of Kalkaringi and Daguragu, a total of about 700 people of mainly Gurindji, Mudburra and Warlpiri heritage. It oversees a number of community-owned enterprises, such as the Kalkaringi Store and Caravan Park. Daguragu community is situated on Aboriginal land held under perpetual title.

2020 native title

A native title 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 Wave Hill Station'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 Lingiari and others involved in the walk-off 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. Just as important is 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.

Meat dump dispute

There have been several legal disputes between the owners of Kalkarindji Meats, Windbox Pty Ltd, and the Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation as well as the

over various matters. In February 2019 it was discovered that there had been pits dug for dumping meat waste within the native title area of Kalkarindji and very near to the heritage-listed Wave Hill track. This continued on and off until September 2020, when both the

and

Commonwealth government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the prime ...

s started an investigation into the matter.