Angurugu is a community located 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" ...
in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. The main spoken languages are
Anindilyakwa, an
Australian Aboriginal language
The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
, and
English. Established as a
Mission
Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to:
Geography Australia
*Mission River (Queensland)
Canada
*Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality
* Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
* ...
for the
Church Mission Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...
, it is one of the three main indigenous settlements on the Groote Eylandt archipelago alongside
Milyakburra and
Umbakumba. According to the 2016 Census, the community had a population of 855, a decrease from 882 in 2006.
History
Groote Eylandt Mission
Reverend
Hubert Ernest de Mey Warren of the
Church Mission Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...
(CMS), the Superintendent of the
Roper River Mission
Ngukurr ( , ), formerly Roper River Mission (1908−1968), is a remote Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal community on the banks of the Roper River in southern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
A number of different clans and language groups are ...
, was keen to expand his operations northwards to
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" ...
. From 1916, he led several expeditions to the island with the purpose of establishing a new settlement to relocate the
Indigenous children of mixed-race descent. The Roper Mission on the mainland had become unviable and overcrowded. Granting the CMS request, the Secretary of the
Department of Home and Territories
The Department of Home and Territories was an Australian government department that existed between November 1916 and December 1928.
Scope
Information about the department's functions and government funding allocation could be found i ...
declared the whole of Groote Eylandt an Aboriginal Reserve in 1921 and gave the CMS a 21-year lease on a large portion of the island. The government granted them 200 square miles (51,800 hectares) of land on the western side of the island for the construction of a Mission.
The Groote Eylandt Mission was established in 1921 along Emerald River, 13km south of Angurugu; this is sometimes known as the Emerald River Mission.
However, it soon became apparent that the location was unsuitable for its inhabitants. The settlement had to be rebuilt numerous times due to flooding and cyclones.
In 1924, the Roper River Mission transferred 35 children to the Groote Eylandt. That number had dropped substantially by 1933. There were complaints from the Indigenous residents about the gruelling work, the state of the dormitories, the punishments meted out for infractions and the poor quality of clothing and bedding. Complaints were raised regarding the alarming cases of leprosy. A report by the Chief Medical Officer in 1934 stated that half of the adult population on the Mission had or previously had leprosy.
It ceased to be a 'half-caste' mission in 1934. The CMS decided to turn their missionary activities towards the local
Warnindhilyagwa people.
In 1940, a cyclone destroyed many of the older buildings at the Mission, including the boys' dormitory and severely damaged the new girls' quarters. CMS decided to move the Mission to the new site along Angurugu River.
Angurugu Mission
The Church Mission Society established the Angurugu Mission in 1943 on the southern bank of the Angurugu River. By 1947, the population of the Mission was 278. By 1956, the total number had grown to 400.
Groote Eylandt Mining Company
In 1803,
Matthew Flinders
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then ...
had recorded the presence of minerals on the island.
Geological mapping
A geological map or geologic map is a special-purpose map made to show various geological features. Rock units or geologic strata are shown by color or symbols. Bedding planes and structural features such as faults, folds, are shown with s ...
in 1960 indicated the occurrence of
manganese
Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...
deposits on Groote Eylandt.
The
Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) obtained prospecting rights in 1963 and commenced and mining operations. The 200 square miles that the CMS had leased contained 14 main deposits. The CMS took out an authority to prospect and mine on the land and negotiated a treaty with BHP for mining rights with royalties at the rate of $10,000 per annum for any production up to 100,000 tons, and a rate of 1¼% of the value of manganese ore shipped per annum more than 100,000 tons.
In 1964, the
Groote Eylandt Mining Company was established and given a lease over the island for royalty payments to the Church Missionary Society. The CMS established the
Groote Eylandt Aboriginal Trust Fund on 28 August 1969, where the mining company would pay the royalty money.
The population of Angurugu increased to 525 by 1971.
Present-day
Groote Eylandt became Aboriginal Freehold Land in 1976. In 2008, Angurugu became part of the
East Arnhem Shire, and the Council took over local government.
In 2015, a riot broke out between two rival clans in Angurugu, involving spears and machetes. Two people were speared and later died. Six people were later tried for the violence, including one charged for murder.
Name
The local Anindilyakwa people called the location chosen for the Mission along the Angurugu River "Mungwardinamanja". However, as it was difficult for the European missionaries to pronounce, the local Anindilyakwa men guiding them chose the name of the Angurugu River mouth "Angurrkwa", which was later Anglicised to Angurugu.
Demographics
According to the
2016 Australian Census
The 2016 Australian census was the 17th Census in Australia, national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was count ...
, the population of Angurugu and its surrounds in 2016 was approximately 855. The median age of people in Angurugu is 25 years. The most common ancestries in Angurugu were
Australian Aboriginal
Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...
83.1%,
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
3.1%,
English 0.8%,
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
0.6% and
Irish 0.3%.
Traditional owners
The
traditional owners
Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...
of Groote Eylandt, the
Warnindhilyagwa people, have 14 clan groups, which make up the two
moieties on Groote Eylandt. The clans maintain their traditions and have strong ties with the people in the community of
Numbulwar
Numbulwar, formerly known as Rose River Mission, is a small, primarily Aboriginal community on the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory of Australia. The major language group of the community is Nunggubuyu and their language, Wubuy, ...
and on
Bickerton Island
Bickerton Island is 13 km west of Groote Eylandt and 8 km east of the mouth of Blue Mud Bay in eastern Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is about 21 by 21 kilometres in size, with deep bays and indentations, and ...
.
Governance
, the
East Arnhem Regional Council is the local government for Angurugu, which is in the council's Anindilyakwa Ward.
The
Anindilyakwa Land Council The Anindilyakwa Land Council (ALC) is a land council that represents the Anindilyakwa people of the Groote Archipelago in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of four land councils in the Northern Territory. The head offi ...
is the
land council
Land councils, also known as Aboriginal land councils, or land and sea councils, are Australian community organisations, generally organised by region, that are commonly formed to represent the Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australians ...
to the community, responsible for matters under the ''
Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976
The ''Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'' (ALRA) is Australian federal government legislation that provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on traditi ...
''.
Climate
References
External links
LGWORKS: Angurugu Community Government Council
{{authority control
Groote Eylandt
Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory