Our Custodians
It is only since 1935 that the Yolngu (people) of the region have had sustained contact with the Balanda (Europeans), firstly through Methodist missions, then through contact with service personnel during World War Two and, more recently, with the imposition of multi-national mines on their tribal lands.
Yolngu speak a dozen dialects of a language group known as Yolngu matha. English is very much a second (or thirteenth) language.
Since the 1960s Yolngu leaders have been conspicuous in the struggle for Aboriginal land rights. In 1963, provoked by a unilateral government decision to excise a part of their land for a bauxite mine, Yolngu at Yirrkala in north east Arnhem land sent to the House of Representatives a petition on bark (the traditional medium for visual art representation). The bark petition attracted national and international attention and now hangs in the national parliament as a testament to the Yolngu role in the birth of the land rights movement.
Yolngu artists and performers have been at the forefront of global recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Yolngu artists, renowned for their fine cross-hatching paintings on bark have international reputations and Yolngu traditional dancers and musicians have performed widely throughout the world and had profound influence on contemporary performance troupes. Yothu Yindi, the band, are Australia’s most successful and widely recognised contemporary Indigenous music group.
