Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km (310 mi) from the territorial capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Company captain Willem Joosten van Colster (or Coolsteerdt) sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape Arnhem is named after his ship, the Arnhem, which itself was named after the city of Arnhem in the Netherlands.
The area covers about 97,000 km2 (37,000 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 16,000, of whom 12,000 are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Two regions are often distinguished as East Arnhem (Land) and West Arnhem (Land). The region's service hub is Nhulunbuy, 600 km (370 mi) east of Darwin, set up in the early 1970s as a mining town
for bauxite. Other major population centres are Yirrkala (just outside Nhulunbuy), Gunbalanya (formerly Oenpelli), Ramingining, and Maningrida.
A substantial proportion of the population, which is mostly Aboriginal, lives on small outstations or homelands. This outstation movement started in the early 1980s. Many Aboriginal groups moved to usually very small settlements on their traditional lands, often to escape the problems of the larger towns. These population groups have very little Western cultural influence, and Arnhem Land is arguably one of the last areas in Australia that could be seen as a completely separate country. Many of the region's leaders have called and continue to call for a treaty that would allow the Yolŋu to operate under their own traditional laws.
In 2013–14, the entire region contributed around A$1.3 billion or 7 percent to the Northern Territory's gross state product, mainly through bauxite mining.
In 2019, it was announced that NASA had chosen Arnhem Land as the location for a space launch facility, the Arnhem Space Centre. On 27 June 2022, NASA launched the first rocket there, the first rocket launch from a commercial spaceport outside the US, and two further launches followed within weeks.
^Australian Bureau of Statistics (2 October 2008). "Australian Demographic Statistics" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
ArnhemLand is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km...
Arnhem (Dutch: [ˈɑrnɛm] or [ˈɑr(ə)nɦɛm] ; German: Arnheim; Ernems: Èrnem) is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near...
The ArnhemLand tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in Australia's Northern Territory. The ecoregion...
The ArnhemLand languages are a language family proposed by Evans (1997) of Australian languages spoken across northern ArnhemLand. The name "Arnhem languages"...
regional rituals performed in north-east ArnhemLand, begun by the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolŋu people of East Arnhem. The first ngarra was performed by creation...
northeast ArnhemLand the name for the instrument is the yiḏaki, or more recently by some, mandapul. In the Bininj Kunwok language of West ArnhemLand it is...
Anindilyakwa on Groote Eylandt (off ArnhemLand), NT Arrernte in central Australia Bininj in Western ArnhemLand (NT) Gunggari in south-west Queensland...
concepts and practices shared by the neighbouring Anbarra people, also in ArnhemLand. Australia portal Australian Aboriginal Sovereignty Customary law in...
aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern ArnhemLand in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means "person" in the...
being bearded as well. While it is single-headed, the Yurlunggur of Arnhemland may possess a double-body. In some stories, the Serpent is associated...
38139; 136.81389 The Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) is Australia's first and only commercial spaceport, located near Nhulunbuy, in ArnhemLand, Australia. It is...
The Battle of Arnhem was a battle of the Second World War at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It was fought in and around the Dutch...
Kakadu National Park. Kabirriki was born in a rock shelter in Western ArnhemLand and his parents were Nakulidj and Maggie Mengkawindi and he was a member...
throughout the tropical woodlands from north-western Australia to eastern ArnhemLand. Used as a traditional bush food and bush medicine for centuries, the...
18th century, first in the Kimberley region, and some decades later in ArnhemLand. They were men who collected and processed trepang (also known as sea...
the excavation of the Narwala Gabarnmang rock shelter in south-western ArnhemLand in the Northern Territory. Dated at 28,000 years, it is one of the oldest...
China, Makassarese trepangers traded with the Aboriginal Australians of ArnhemLand from at least the 18th century or likely prior. This Makassan contact...
northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to ArnhemLand with the Indian Ocean on the west, the Arafura Sea to the north, and...
The Gove Peninsula is at the northeastern corner of ArnhemLand in the Northern Territory of Australia. The peninsula became strategically important during...
Djanggawul, three creator-siblings of northeast ArnhemLand mythology Galeru, rainbow snake in ArnhemLand mythology who swallowed the Djanggawul Djunkgao...
trepang industry on the Yolngu people suggests a longer period of contact. ArnhemLand rock art, recorded by archaeologists in 2008, appears to provide further...
connected with creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of ArnhemLand in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is referred to as island of...
Territory, a remote aboriginal community, Ngukurr on the Roper River in ArnhemLand. A six-piece guitar inspired rock band, they play a mix of punk, rock...
Manikay are "clan songs" of some groups of Yolngu people of north-east ArnhemLand, including Yirrkala. These songs are often about clan or family history...
sacred rock in Western ArnhemLand. Namarrkon's dreaming site (djadjan) is a slight projection in the outline of the ArnhemLand escarpment. It consists...
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