Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
hand to art for sale − carving, painting, textile screen-printing, batik and pottery using
traditional designs and motifs. The Bima Wear textile factory was set up in 1969 to em-
ploy Tiwi women, and today makes many bright fabrics in distinctive designs.
The main settlement on the islands is
Nguiu
in the southeast of Bathurst Island, which
was founded in 1911 as a Catholic mission. On Melville Island the settlements are
Pular-
umpi
and
Milikapiti
.
Most of the 2700 Tiwi Islanders live on Bathurst Island (there are about 900 people on
Melville Island). Most follow a mainly nontraditional lifestyle, but they still hunt dugong
and gather turtle eggs, and hunting and gathering usually supplements the mainland diet
a couple of times a week. Tiwis also go back to their traditional lands on Melville Island
for a few weeks each year to teach and to learn traditional culture. Descendants of the
Japanese pearl divers who regularly visited here early this century also live on Melville
Island.
Aussie Rules football is a passion among the islanders and one of the biggest events of
the year (and the only time it's possible to visit without a permit or on a tour) is the Tiwi
football grand-final day in late March. Huge numbers of people come across from the
mainland for the event − book your tour/ferry well in advance.
T
Tours
There's no public transport on the islands, so the best way to see them is on a tour. You
can catch the Tiwi Ferry over to Nguiu and have a look around the town without taking a
tour or buying a permit, but if you want to explore further you'll need a permit from the
Tiwi Land Council (
Click here
).
Tiwi Tours
CULTURAL
( 08-8923 6523, 1300 721 365;
www.aussieadventures.com.au
; tour adult/child $465/418)
Runs fascinating day trips to the Tiwis, although interaction with the local community is
limited to your guides and local workshops and showrooms. A one-day tour to Bathurst
Island includes a charter flight, permit, lunch, tea and damper with Tiwi women, craft
workshops, and visits to the early Catholic-mission buildings, the Patakijiyali Museum
and a pukumani burial site. Tours depart Monday to Friday from March to November.
Tiwi Ferry
CULTURAL
( 0418 675 266;
www.tiwiferry.com.au
; tour per person $149 plus ferry fare, ferry only return
adult/child $180/120)
Leaving from Cullen Bay ferry terminal at 7.30am and returning at
5pm, the boat trip takes about two hours, and you spend all of the land time in Nguiu,
