The Yolngu people

Our day started in a sandy clearing by being greeted by the playing and singing of a painted Yolngu group. We subsequently learned that their leader was 88, the keeper of Yolngu music, and had played at the opening of Sydney Opera House. Also that the group is touring Japan in few months. After performance of many songs and dances we were invited to join them in a few numbers. Fortunately there is no visual record of the performance at that point.

We then proceeded to a magnifent gallery at Yirrkala, which has a large stock of magnificent bark and wood art work for sale. Prices up to $10,000 could be seen. There are two bark panels portraying the creation on permanent display. These are titled “ the church panels” because they had been given and installed in the local church. Some time subsequently the church decided that the stories represented were pagan and removed them so their home is now the gallery. Outside there are murals celebrating the heroes of claiming native land title in this region, starting in 1963.

We then went to a place called Shady Beach, though it was in fact exceedingly windy. On the lee side we had a Women’s Healing demonstration, consisting of crushing and smelling some leaves, and washing and boiling others.We were all given handfuls of the boiled leaves which we squeezed to extract an oily substance and rub onto hands, faces, and any other skin surface in need of improvement. The skin became slimy then sticky and finally dry and soft.

A box lunch on windy side was the prelude to a long and rough drive to Macassan beach, site of a memorial set of stone diagrams of the 500 years, trading between the Yolngu and Macassans of the Indies . The trade ceased in 1907 when heavily taxed by the South Australian government.

Our day ended with a drive by tour of theAlumina refinery mothballed due to uneconomic cost of diesel fuel, and a lookout surveying the Nhulun region, saved from mining by opposition reinforced by locals with spears.

It seems I have accidentally used up my monthly data today. This is the last wifi point probably until Darwin. So perhaps no further update in May....

So concluding with a closeup of the frangipani that is native to hereabouts. Notice the leaves.

Arnhem Land adventure

Today we flew to Nhulunbuy (Gove) to get acquaintance with the far north, courtesy Outback Spirit. The Cairns-Gove sector was with a carrier new to us, as was the plane type (Embraer 170) . We liked the airline style and the plane and thought it significantly superior to comparable Qantas services, notably in lunch and two airline magazines which were world best standard in informational presentation. One magazine was wholly dedicated to articles on artisan workmanship with highest quality card paper and few ads,

The Gove airport is designed to look like a fish in profile. Below is the disembarking view.

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After settling in to our motel we took a stroll to the beach, which looked tempting with gentle surf. Alas the beach is reserved for the use of crocodiles, box jelly fish and it is said the occasional feral buffalo.

The shell life included plentiful beautiful cowry shells an other flotsam and jetsam , some less salubrious 

I saw the tallest frangipanni of my experience.

And in our motel the strangest natural parti-coloured palm trunk 

Good wild barramundi for dinner and getting acquainted with some our 19 travel companions led to an early night.

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