Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WWII had a significant impact on the Territory. Just weeks after the Japanese levelled
Darwin causing 243 deaths, the entire Territory north of Alice Springs was placed under
military control, with 32,000 soldiers stationed in the Top End.
On Christmas Eve 1974, Darwin was flattened again by Cyclone Tracy, which killed
71 people.
Indigenous Darwin & Uluru
Australian Aborigines have occupied parts of the NT for around 60,000 years, although
the central regions were not inhabited until about 24,000 years ago. The first significant
contact with outsiders occurred in the 17th century when Macassan traders from modern-
day Sulawesi in Indonesia came to the Top End to collect trepang (sea cucumber).
While the process of white settlement in the NT was slower than elsewhere in Aus-
tralia, it had an equally troubled and violent effect. By the early 20th century, most Ab-
original people were confined to government reserves or Christian missions. During the
1960s Aboriginal people began to demand more rights.
In 1966 a group of Aboriginal stockmen, led by Vincent Lingiari, went on strike on
Wave Hill Station, to protest over the low wages and poor conditions that they received
compared with white stockmen. The Wave Hill walk-off gave rise to the Aboriginal land-
rights movement.
In 1976 the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act was passed in Canberra.
It handed over all reserves and mission lands in the NT to Aboriginal people and allowed
Aboriginal groups to claim vacant government land if they could prove continuous occu-
pation − provided the land wasn't already leased, in a town or set aside for some other
special purpose.
Today, Aboriginal people own about half of the land in the NT, including Kakadu and
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Parks, which are leased back to the federal government. Min-
erals on Aboriginal land are still government property, though the landowners' permis-
sion is usually required for exploration and mining, and landowners are remunerated.
Around 30% of the Territory's 200,000 people are Aborigines. While non-Aboriginal
Australia's awareness of the need for reconciliation with the Aboriginal community has
increased in recent years, there are still huge gulfs between the cultures. Entrenched dis-
advantage and substance abuse are causing enormous social problems within some indi-
genous communities.
It's often difficult for short-term visitors to make meaningful contact with Aborigines,
as they generally prefer to be left to themselves. The impressions given by some Abori-
ginal people on the streets of Alice Springs, Katherine and Darwin, where social prob-
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