Alyangula is the largest township on

Groote Eylandt Groote Eylandt ( Anindilyakwa: ''Ayangkidarrba'' meaning "island" ) is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. It was named by the explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and is Dutch for "Large Island" i ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

History

Groote Eylandt Mining Company (GEMCO) established Alyangula as the residence for the mining company workers in the late 1960s. The township was established under a special purpose lease between

GEMCO The Groote Eylandt Mining Company, known by its acronym GEMCO, is an Australian company that was commissioned to mine high grade manganese ore. GEMCO is majority owned by South32. It runs its operation on 84 square kilometres of the Arnhem Land Ab ...

, Anindilyakwa Land Council and the Anindilyakwa Land Trust. The township of Alyangula is an unincorporated territory within the northern region of the

Climate

Alyangula has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Aw'', Trewartha: ''Awhb/Awha''), with a very hot, oppressive

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

from mid-November to April and a very warm, muggy

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

from May to mid-November, typical of the

Top End The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ra ...

region of the Northern Territory. From May to mid-November, the prevailing winds are from the east, which due to the Great Dividing Range, cast a rain shadow throughout the Top End of the Northern Territory. Lower humidity, high winds, and lack of rain increase the likelihood of bushfires, which peak during the second half of the dry season. Typically, temperatures at day and especially night are significantly cooler than in the Summer, which increases relative comfort. The record high temperature during this season was 39.2 ºC (102.6 ºF) on 23rd of October 1987, and the record low temperature was 10.5 ºC (50.9 ºF) on 19th of July 1985. Starting from mid-November, northwesterly winds from the

Arafura Sea The Arafura Sea (or Arafuru Sea) lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea. Geography The Arafura S ...

draw in warm, moist ocean air, which leads to monsoonal rainfall, oppressive dew points and spectacular lightning storms. Flooding, cyclones, storms and low monsoonal troughs sometimes occur during this season. Temperatures are more stable in this season, ranging from 40.3 ºC (104.5 ºF) on 31st December 1990 to 16.0 ºC (60.8 ºF) on 15th April 1994. However, temperatures above 35 ºC (95 ºF) or below 20 ºC (68 ºF) are rare during this season.

Present day

In the , the township recorded a population of 873 people who are employees of GEMCO and are almost exclusively non-Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 8.3% of the population). The township comprises a first-class resort and four clubs; an arts centre; a coffee shop; a golf course and other sporting facilities; a 25m swimming pool; a church; half a dozen shops; a bank; a post office and a travel agency. The township also has a school (Up to and including Year 11); a child care centre; a training centre; an area health centre; and a court house and police station. The town also has the cheapest fuel in Australia subsidised by the mine (August 2020 - Unleaded fuel is 102.0cpl).

References

Groote Eylandt {{NorthernTerritory-geo-stub